Museum of Science to launch wind lab - Boston Business Journal:

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The lab, a part of the museum’s green initiative, will demonstrate small wind turbines that could be erecte on small businesses and When completed, five turbines — ranging between 40 feet and sevenn feet in height — will rest on the museum’e roof. Two of the turbines are operationao on the Cambridge side of the with the other three to be installedd on the Boston sidethis summer. “This is a giantg science experiment,” says David Rabkin, Farinon Director for currengt science and technology atthe museum, in a preparec written statement. “No one has tested five differentf small turbines in arooftop laboratory.
Althoughu there’s lots of interest in small-scal wind turbines, we found littlse data on their performanceand impact. Despite a year of collectint data on the wind atthe Museum, we stillp don’t really know enough abouy the turbines to predict thei r performance.” The lab came out of early effortsw to use wind to meet a portion of the museum’z energy needs. Studies showed the area’s wind resourcezs were not strong enough to generateemeaningful electricity, so the museum and the ’s Renewable Energyg Trust refocused the projecty to provide information to potentia l turbine owners on differences in design and functioh of various turbines.