USA - Small-scale wind turbine named a 2007 top 10 green building product

The Skystream 3.7™ backyard wind generator, from Southwest Windpower, has been named a 2007 Top 10 Green Building Product by Sustainable Industries, a magazine for green business leaders. Skystream was the only wind turbine included in the Top 10 that featured products such as composting toilets and radiant heat flooring. The backyard turbine was evaluated by a panel of green building experts. It was selected based on environmental performance, scalability/market impact, innovativeness, design aesthetic, value, and compatibility with the U.S. Green Building Council’s LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) rating system.

“Over the past few years, green building has gone from cutting-edge to mainstream,” said Brian Back, Founding Editor & Publisher of Sustainable Industries. “Building-material manufacturers and retailers are rapidly joining the movement toward offering so-called ‘green’ options to their clients. But not all products are as environmentally innovative as builders and their well-intentioned clients demand. The Top 10 Green Building Products guide shines a spotlight on some of the most innovative building materials on the market today.”

“The ability to produce power in your own backyard adds a new frontier to the green building movement,” said Andy Kruse, Southwest Windpower co-founder. “Along with the other products featured in this issue, Skystream makes sustainable living more accessible than ever before.”

The Skystream, developed by Southwest Windpower in collaboration with the US Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Lab, has unique curved blades for quiet operation. It is the first backyard-sized wind turbine that includes a built-in inverter and requires no external components. Depending on the wind resource, Skystream generates between 30-80% of the power required by a typical home.

About Southwest Windpower
Flagstaff Arizona-based Southwest Windpower is the world’s largest producer of small-scale wind generators (400 to 3000 watts). The 20-year old company has been a pioneer in the development of wind technology and has produced over 90,000 generators that provide power to everything from residential homes to sailboats. Southwest Windpower’s newest wind turbine, the Skystream 3.7, is the first fully-integrated wind generator designed specifically for the grid-connected residential market. Southwest Windpower distributes in more than 88 countries.

About Sustainable Industries
Sustainable Industries is an independent, award-winning magazine serving green business leaders on the West Coast and beyond. The magazine is published by Celilo Group Media, a diversified green media company with offices in Oakland, Portland, Seattle and St. Paul, Minn. With a mission of expanding markets for sustainable products, the company publishes Sustainable Industries, the clean energy news magazine nwcurrent, and EcoMetro healthy lifestyle coupon books.