The Archimedes Wind Turbine

This silent rooftop wind turbine can generate half of a household's energy needs.

Small wind turbines for residential areas have so far not been a great idea. The power output has been too low for a reasonable return on investment and the noise they produce is louder than most homeowners can deal with. But that's about to change.

A Dutch renewable energy start-up called The Archimedes is working to solve both of those problems with a new class of small-scale wind turbines. One that is almost silent and is far more efficient at converting wind into energy. The company states that the Liam F1 turbine could generate 1,500 kWh of energy per year at wind speeds of 5m/s, enough to cover half of an average household's energy use.

When used in combination with rooftop solar panels, a house could theoretically run off grid. "When there is wind you use the energy produced by the wind turbine; when the sun is shining you use the solar cells to produce the energy," The Archimedes CEO Richard Ruijtenbeek said. 

The Liam's blades are shaped like a Nautilus shell. The design allows it to point into the wind to capture the most amount of energy, while also producing very little sound. The inventor of the turbine Marinus Mieremet says that the power output is 80 percent of the theoretical maximum energy that could be harnessed from the wind.

"Generally speaking, there is a difference in pressure in front and behind of the rotor blades of a windmill. However, this is not the case with the Liam F1. The difference in pressure is created by the spatial figure in the spiral blade. This results is a much better performance. Even when the wind is blowing at an angle of 60 degrees into the rotor, it will start to spin. We do not require expensive software; because of its conical shape, the wind turbine yaws itself automatically into the optimal wind direction. Just like a wind vane. And because the wind turbine encounters minimal resistance, it is virtually silent," said Mieremet. 

The Archimedes is also working on a smaller version of the wind turbine, designed so that could fit on LED lampposts to power them, or on on the roof of your boat.