Cleanfield made a big media splash in Ontario, Canada during the mid-2000s with its claim of producing a new wind turbine suited for mounting on buildings.
Cleanfield
There’s no better example of ignorance, hype, and hubris by people with more money at their disposal than their knowledge of energy when the government of Ontario funded Cleanfield Energy, a small local VAWT manufacturer.
Feb 28, 2013 – Canadian vertical axis wind turbine maker Cleanfield Alternative Energy Inc (CVE:AIR) said today that a resolution passed by its board on February 22 to wind-up or liquidate the company triggered the previously announced default on a CAD-1.475-million (USD 1.44m/EUR 1.1m) secure credit.
Press release claiming that Cleanfield was installing its VAWTs on rooftops “around the world.” The press release implies Cleanfield’s association with McMaster University and Ontario’s Centres of Excellence as a from of institutional endorsement.
Article claiming that McMaster improved the VAWTs performance 50% based on wind tunnel tests, according to Dr. Stephen Tullis, leader of the research project and Assistant Professor at McMaster.
Press release using a common ploy to confuse amateurs by announcing UL certification. UL only certifies electrical performance not whether the wind turbine will work as a wind turbine or work well at all.
Presentation at the CanWEA conference i 2007 by S. Tullis at McMaster University.
Product brochure by a British company for Cleanfield’s 3.5 kW VAWT shown on an unusual monopole tower. To my knowledge the Cleanfield turbine was never certified under the British FIT program. This brochure is unusual because it shows both an expected power curve and an energy curve–data hard to come by in North America at the time.
Two videos of Cleanfield VAWTs spinning. The first shows two of its small VAWT on the roof of a what looks like a school in Ontario, Canada. The second shows a group of five turbines at an airport in Northern Ontario.
Press release touting the hiring of an engineer from McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario as a specialist in wind energy in urban areas.
