Flagstaff, Ariz./November 7, 2006/PRNewswire/—Today Southwest Windpower announced that its newest product, the Skystream 3.7, has been awarded a 2006 Best of What's New Award from Popular Science in the Home category. Each year, Popular Science reviews thousands of new products and innovations and includes the top 100 winners in its annual Best of What's New issue. To win, a product or technology must represent a significant step forward in its category.
"Best of What's New is the ultimate Popular Science accolade, representing a year's worth of work evaluating thousands of projects," says Mark Jannot, editor of Popular Science. "These awards honor innovations that not only influence the way we live today, but that change the way we think about the future."
Skystream is a next-generation residential power appliance that hooks up to the home to help reduce or eliminate monthly electricity costs. Skystream is the first compact, user-friendly, all-inclusive wind generator (with controls and inverter built in) designed to provide quiet, clean electricity in very low winds. With Skystream, homeowners and small business owners now have the power to choose their electricity source.
"Skystream will change how Americans power their homes with clean wind energy," said Andy Kruse, co-founder of Southwest Windpower. "This is a dream our company has had for twenty years. Now, with Skystream, grid-connected residential wind energy is finally mainstream."
Developed in collaboration with the U.S. Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Skystream was designed to be a quiet, convenient, affordable way to protect homeowners from rising electricity costs. With no batteries, Skystream connects directly to the home. When the wind is blowing, the home is powered (in part) by Skystream; when it's not, the home is seamlessly powered by the utility as usual. During periods of strong winds, Skystream can actually produce excess electricity. Depending on the utility, the home's meter spins backwards, giving the homeowner credit for a later date, if net metering is allowed. Skystream produces energy at less than half the cost of any other renewable energy technology.
The Skystream will be featured in December's Popular Science special editorial section, on news stands November 14. The Skystream will also be featured at the Popular Science Best of What's New Showcase in New York Grand Central Terminal's Vanderbilt Hall. The three-day consumer event is open to the public, beginning November 7.
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