Screwy Wind Design with awful video

This is a classic case of a great idea but, I think, an awful video leading to a missed opportunity.



The Archimedes windmill design comes out of Rotterdam.



Using the soundtrack of Pirates of Caribbean means your video will be blocked for copyright infringment in no time. Which is a hell of a shame because the design IS revolutionary. Gizmodo gave it some coverage.

Along with its claim of being able to achieve 80 percent of Betz' limit, The Archimedes adds that "The Liam F1 generates an average of 1,500 kilowatt-hours of energy [per year] at a wind-speed of 5 m/s [16.4 ft/s], which resembles half of the power consumption of a common household." Needless to say, it will be interesting to see what independent testing reveals. The company states that it has tested the Liam "over 50 times" to confirm the figures, and has already sold 7,000 of the turbines in 14 countries.

That said, the Liam F1 Urban Wind Turbine should be officially available as of July 1st. Although no price was given in today's announcement, a previous posting on the company website puts it at €3,999 (about US$5,450).

Lessons learned: 

Audiences are less interested in what happened at your press launch and far more curious about what you know and learned.