Updated: The Energy Ball: A Wind Turbine for your Home

Home Energy, A Swedish energy company, recently unveiled a potentially groundbreaking household wind turbine named Energy Ball. Unlike conventional wind turbines the Energy Ball, utilizing the Venturi principle, spins in a spherical manner.

The Venturi Effect

The Venturi effect is characterized by a low pressure that occurs when a flow of air or liquid speeds up as it is constricted. Some perfume bottles use the Venturi effect to suck up perfume into the spray nozzle.

The Energy Ball's design constricts the wind, thereby causing the pressure to drop inside the ball. This sucks in air flowing around the ball and helps turn the rotor blades.

Because of this sucking action, Venturi-based turbines use more of the wind — and can therefore be 40 percent more efficient — than a propeller-style turbine of the same diameter, according to research by Technical University of Delft in Holland.

The unique design forces wind to flow inside the device itself, rather than through it, thus increasing the overall efficiency. The Energy Ball features a built-in power generator - allowing wind to generate power on both sides of the spherical object and, hopefully, improve the device’s power output.

Energy Balls currently are sold in sizes of either 1 meter or 2 meters in diameter and can be installed on a pole or a flat roof in as few as four hours.

In area with average wind speed of 15 mph, or 7 meters per second, a 1-meter ball can generate up to 500 kilowatt-hours per year, while the 2-meter ball can supply 1,750 kilowatt-hours per year(The typical U.S. household uses 11,000 kilowatt-hours per year).

Home Energy claims that even its smallest Energy Ball can provide enough energy to contribute 15% of the average [Swedish] household’s energy usage. The cost of the Energy Ball is between $3,500 and $7,000, not including installation.

Home Energy's Website

Via: Engadget, Inhabitat, Foozoo Design Below the Clouds and FoxNews