Headliners

MSSM Headliners

Nuzzo Experiments With Wind Power

This summer I was fortunate enough to work on building a small wind generator at my house in Litchfield. Last year I wrote a proposal asking for funding for materials and with the help of Mrs. Gerrish I was able to secure $1000 from Stantec for my project. The windmill design was based on that of small wind power legend Hugh Piggot. I spent a lot of time reading everything I could about windmill design and construction in the past year and this summer I finally got to put the theory to practice in the garage with my dad, who was able to help with the welding and brazing the necessary pieces together.

The mill's fiberglass blades will achieve about 7 feet in diameter. One of the most interesting pieces of building the windmill was the magnets. We used extremely powerful neodymium magnets in the generator to produce the most power possible. We had to be very careful when handling the magnets and be sure not to slip our fingers between them. I hope when the windmill is done to achieve about half a kilowatt of maximum output from the generator. We are currently looking for a pole to put the mill on top of so it will catch the most wind possible.

The windmill is still in the testing phase as I am still making design changes to help improve performance. However, when completed I hope to have the windmill hooked up to a small water heater which will preheat for a larger heater in a house on Trafton St. This should cut down on the amount of energy used to heat the water to a usable temperature. Also, we will cut costs dramatically by not tying into the grid. Building the windmill has been the highlight of my summer and still continues to be a source of great excitement for me. I've been learning a lot all throughout this project from all aspects, mechanical, electrical, and even political. I hope my efforts cause people to notice how much energy they actually use and what changes they can make to use less.