The Museum of Science installed the first two wind powered electric generators of it's research and demonstration project. One is a fairly conventional pinwheel design, and the other is a vertical rotor design that looks kind of like a radio antenna. Some of these designs have shown good efficiency. According to David Rabkin who is overseeing the project at the museum, they both should fully installed and tied into the electric grid within a week or so. They will need a final inspection by Nstar before that can happen.

Yesterday workers were on the roof adjusting the sway and stability of the mountings. You can see the vertical shaft generator spinning in the wind already, but the "propeller" design unit will not spin freely until it is connected to the grid.

While these turbines and the others to come will not be able to meet nearly all of the museum's power needs, it will provide solid data for use by property owners and contractors to evaluate various wind energy options for possible installation in residential and commercial properties. Mr. Rabkin says that there is a lack of performance data on small scale wind generators that is not provided by the manufacturers.

Tim Rowe, a member of Cambridge's Green Building and Zoning Task Force, said that the town of Hull is on track to become a net electricity exporter once the installation of the set of wind turbines that they have planned are installed. At the Task Force's last meeting he suggested that Cambridge adopt that goal. As technology evolves, that may become attainable.