On October 25, Kean Stimm of Kean Wind Turbines, Inc. announced his self-proclaimed engineering breakthrough to the Springville Area Chamber of Commerce and Springville-Griffith Institute high school upperclassmen. Stimm’s goal for the lecture was to inspire the next generation of engineers and activists and to highlight the importance of community involvement in realizing sustainable energy goals.
Stimm developed an innovative “Newtonian Wind Turbine” that uses cutting edge technology. The turbine operates on Sir Isaac Newton’s first law of linear motion instead of the bernoulis theorem-inspired three-blade windmills that are currently in fashion.
In a marked contrast to windmills, which use only 4% of the air mass, Stimm’s turbines use 100% of the displaced air mass presented to the face of the turbine. The lack of turbulence in Stimm’s design affords tremendous advantage and provides the ability to mount five turbines on a rotating pedestal without interference. Stimm patented his design in 2010.
Stimm intends to commercially produce his turbines in three sizes: 3 meters, 4 meters, and 8 meters, producing 10 megawatt hours, 25 MWG, and 100 MWH respectively. He envisions his turbines on roofs, backyards, in commercial spaces, and farms. His goal is to make Western New York the capital of wind turbine production and intends to provide franchise opportunities for small business owners who want to get involved.
He believes these business opportunities would then lead to the creation of manufacturing plants that would provide good jobs and compensation, thereby allowing employees to invest in the product if they so choose. Current wind farms tend to be expensive, geographically expansive, using lots of land, and inefficient. Stimm projects that by 2015, there will be one turbine for every 4000 acres in New York, and he feels passionately that his turbines are the future of renewable energy.
