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Although I’m guessing that the only thing “personal” item flying off the shelves of Home Depot stores across the country right now are personal cooling units, the big box purveyor of paints, potted plants, and home improvement accoutrement is now also selling personal wind turbines at select stores in Idaho, Nevada, Texas, Utah, Wyoming, and California.
Similar to Lowe’s teaming up with Sungevity to offer shoppers affordable, in-store solar leasing options, the Home Depot has partnered with Flagstaff, Ariz.-based company Southwest Windpower in an effort to bring clean, renewable wind-based power to the masses.
As reported by Preston over at Jetson Green, the particular product being offered by Home Depot is the sleek (read: quiet), grid-connected Skystream 3.7, a unit described by Southwest Windpower as “the first compact, all-inclusive personal wind generator (with controls and inverter built in) designed to work in very low winds.” Included with the actual turbine is Skyview monitoring software that allows homeowners to track the Skystream 3.7’s performance from the comfort of their PC. Weighing 205 pounds, the unit comes with a five-year warranty and is capable of producing up to 400 kilowatt hours of clean electricity per month (based on prelim data).
The total price for the Skystream 3.7, including installation costs, varies by location but from what I gather the units alone are in the ballpark of $6,000. Homeowners, if qualified, will be able to knock off a few bucks of the sticker price as the turbine is eligible for local, state, and federal incentives including a 30 percent federal tax credit. And although the turbines will only be available for purchase at select stores in the aforementioned states, the company plans to expand the program to “windy locations across the United States.”
Says Southwest Windpower CEO Dixon Thayer is an official release:
Similar to Lowe’s teaming up with Sungevity to offer shoppers affordable, in-store solar leasing options, the Home Depot has partnered with Flagstaff, Ariz.-based company Southwest Windpower in an effort to bring clean, renewable wind-based power to the masses.
As reported by Preston over at Jetson Green, the particular product being offered by Home Depot is the sleek (read: quiet), grid-connected Skystream 3.7, a unit described by Southwest Windpower as “the first compact, all-inclusive personal wind generator (with controls and inverter built in) designed to work in very low winds.” Included with the actual turbine is Skyview monitoring software that allows homeowners to track the Skystream 3.7’s performance from the comfort of their PC. Weighing 205 pounds, the unit comes with a five-year warranty and is capable of producing up to 400 kilowatt hours of clean electricity per month (based on prelim data).
The total price for the Skystream 3.7, including installation costs, varies by location but from what I gather the units alone are in the ballpark of $6,000. Homeowners, if qualified, will be able to knock off a few bucks of the sticker price as the turbine is eligible for local, state, and federal incentives including a 30 percent federal tax credit. And although the turbines will only be available for purchase at select stores in the aforementioned states, the company plans to expand the program to “windy locations across the United States.”
Says Southwest Windpower CEO Dixon Thayer is an official release:
The Skystream install program represents Southwest Windpower’s commitment to making renewable energy affordable and accessible to consumers everywhere. We are excited to help residential and commercial customers take advantage of their area’s exceptional wind resource by using Skystream 3.7 to produce clean, emissions-free energy.Home Depot shoppers in windy areas of Idaho, Nevada, Texas, Utah, Wyoming, and California: Any interest? Anyone out there have experience with compact, grid-tied turbines including the Skystream 3.7? Has owning a compact wind turbine freed up time for you to toss a beach ball or play tug-a-war with your children?
cleanelectric
A true Green Energy Future is a world wide: Industrial, Economic, Political, and Social (R)Evolution. We should be deploying wind and solar power along every freeway interstate, in every parking lot, on everylamp-post and building that already exists. The safest way to ensure the National Security of our agruculture system is with Electric farming Equipment. Now those are some smart things we can invest in.
Way Cool! I wish they would sell the cylindrical wind turbines and maybe even EV car charging units.
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