At City Hall, turbine to harnass all that wind

By Erin Ailworth, Globe Staff

By the end of the week, a handful of computers and desk lamps at Boston City Hall could be powered by wind.

Workers have completed the installation of a mini-turbine, called a Skystream, on the roof of the building, said James W. Hunt III, the city's chief of environmental and energy services.

"We're up, we're up. The turbine is up," Hunt said late yesterday.

Mayor Thomas M. Menino originally wanted to install a much larger turbine somewhere on City Hall Plaza, but the idea was shot down in January when engineers determined the windswept area might be too turbulent for such a machine.

The rooftop turbine went up after several months of planning, and while the project may not be as ambitious as Menino once hoped, it serves a valuable purpose, according to Hunt.

"This is a demonstration project to analyze how this kind of turbine, a roof-mounted turbine, will function in an urban environment," he said. "So, people can come see how these things look and we can study them."

Indeed, the turbine's silhouette on the city's skyline is easy to spot from many vantage points, said Dorothy Joyce, spokeswoman for the mayor.

A spokeswoman for Southwest Windpower, the Arizona firm that donated the equipment, said the turbine is about 40 feet tall with a rotor diameter of 12 feet. It weighs about 170 pounds and can generate 1.9 kilowatts of electricity.

The mini-turbines, which cost between $13,000 and $18,000, were designed for use by homeowners, and can be plugged directly into a house's utility system.

Erin Ailworth can be reached at eailworth@globe.com.