The Owner-Built Savonius Rotor

Low-Tech Wind Power for Farms

Created with SARE support
Eric Andrus | 2014 | 2 pages

Investing in commercially available renewable-energy devices usually requires large capital investments and long payback periods.

This farmer has explored a low-cost alternative.Low-tech wind power offers farmers an alternative approach to the problem. The Vertical Axis Wind Turbine (VAWT) design that has resulted from our research provides useful amounts of generative or rotary power yet can be assembled at a material cost of under $1000.

The design is freely available and can be executed using common materials and skills.

Want more information? See the related SARE grant:

This material is based upon work that is supported by the National Institute of Food and Agriculture, U.S. Department of Agriculture through the Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE) program. Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this publication are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the view of the U.S. Department of Agriculture or SARE.