Thursday, September 2, 2010

Green Ingenuity: Bicycle Wheel Windmill

On the heels of Kenny's bike post, I thought this information would be appropriate. While searching the internet on another topic, I recently came across a great idea to use an old bicycle wheel as a windmill. We've never seen this before, and figured many of you haven't either, so I thought I would share.

The Basics...

The initial item I came across shows a very basic way to make this type of windmill, but doesn't include any information on how to harness the energy produced (or even talk about how it may be possible). Still informative and it's cool to see how well it does its "windmill thing" with such rudimentary ingredients.



A Bit More In-depth...

Doing a bit more research for this post I came across another example on Instructables. This one gives more information on how to harness the energy produced.


The inventor devised these to be easily reproduced using fairly easily available items in third world countries. Some of them can be made for only $80. Check it out! Ted Baer's Bicycle Wheel Windmill -Carrie

2 comments:

  1. I am married to an electrician and have been nagging him for years to set up some kind of windmill to produce electricity!

    This is so simple...I might try one in my garden just for fun! Kim

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  2. What Pigs Don't KnowSeptember 4, 2010 at 9:17 AM

    Kim - From the pictures I've seen I can totally imagine this in your garden. You're so artsy, I'm sure it would look great, even if it was just ornamental. -Carie

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