This portable wind turbine, the Flutter, is touted as being the “Key to Power Independence” and with 31 days still to go it has raised $10,500 of the $50,000 goal on Kickstarter. Check out their presentation video:
There are some question marks as to how usable this product really is. It can only be used to power USB devices (e.g. smartphones, tablets, etc.), and more importantly no watt power rating is given so we don’t really know at this point how capable the Flutter is.
The battery will have a 60,000 mAh capacity though so it packs quite a punch in that area, and realistically it should have a decent power rating to be able to charge such a high capacity battery.
Products like the Flutter could be great news for those of us who live in areas where windy days are more common than clear and sunny days. While solar panels might give you energy for 4-8 hours on the average day the Flutter can give you energy potentially 24/7 if you live in a very windy place. It all depends on your local conditions.
In my case I have to live through six months of relative darkness in the winter when solar panels are not that usable, so I can definitely see myself having one of these small-scale wind turbines as a backup power source.
If you have any thoughts on this I’d love to hear them. Leave a comment below!
