Often called windmills out of habit, wind turbines generate electricity kinetically from the force of the wind.
However an Englishman has further complicated things by building both—a windmill based on a 12th-century example that also doubles as a wind turbine. Sitting in his garden, he believes it can power his whole house.
Gareth Ross Buddell built the structure in his home garden in Swindon. He is next looking to test its capabilities on a windy hillside, where he explains more than 10,000 of the structures would once have been visible across the UK.
“I think they would look fantastic,” he told English media outlet SWNS, gesturing to the hillside. “You could use them to pump up water for the farms at the top, or for heating, or you could run a line down to the school and get the school free electricity.”
To ensure his plans were based on historic originals, Gareth purchased over 1,700 survey drawings of the Bourn Windmill in Cambridgeshire, approximated the measurements, and then reconstructed a quarter-size copy in his garden.
Gareth relied on his skills and education as a classical boat builder at the Falmouth Marine School, which also serves him at his day job repairing furniture. The windmill is built mainly of green oak and can rotate to be directed at the wind. He sewed the sails himself from a curtain he bought in a thrift store.
The mill’s generator produces 100 amps at 12 volts when spinning at its optimum speed.
Although the mill currently looks “beautiful” on the main street of his hometown of Bishopsville, the wind is insufficient to turn the sails, so he will take the portable mill to higher land to test its functionality.
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“God gives you the wind; you have just got to mill it!” said Gareth enthusiastically. “A green oak windmill costs less than £500 to knock up and it is 100 percent renewable and recyclable.”
In England, certain rural areas have protected aesthetics, and Gareth says he’s had no problems with local government because it’s an agricultural building at its heart.
Unlike wind turbines with dangerous blades that move at high speed, the sails move at a low speed.
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Gareth intends to send the design to King Charles to get the eco-conscious monarch’s opinion.
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