| The vertical axis wind turbine which is sometimes | | | | energy extraction. |
| referred to as the (VAWT) for short, is a wind power | | | | They only produce roughly 50% of the energy that a |
| machine that has been designed so that it maybe | | | | horizontal wind generator produces. They also have to |
| attached to a flat roof or stand on a platform in either | | | | be installed on a flat piece of land nothing steep and |
| the rural or urban environment. This type of generator | | | | although steepness of an area might be a problem for |
| has several advantages to it such as, because of the | | | | a vertical wind generator, that is not a problem for a |
| fact that it can be placed at the bottom close to the | | | | horizontal wind power generator. |
| ground, the tower does not have to support the | | | | However, like I said before it is not all negative there |
| generator can be placed at the bottom, not only that | | | | are also many advantages. Some of these include |
| but the turbine does not need to be pointed in the | | | | that seeing how the rotor blades are vertical, you do |
| direction of the wind. | | | | not have to have a yaw device so this reduces the |
| Although it certainly has its advantages, the turbine also | | | | need for a bearing and its cost. Vertical wind power |
| has its disadvantages. Some of the disadvantages are | | | | generators can be at lower heights which can be |
| that it is not an easy task to mount vertical axis | | | | useful when having to deal with laws that have certain |
| turbines onto towers, because of this they normally | | | | height restrictions to them. Finally, smaller vertical wind |
| have to operate slower and get the turbulent air flow | | | | generators are much easier to transport. |
| close to the ground, which results in a less efficient | | | | |