Cincinnati Zoo Windspire Turbine.JPGThe Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden has just finished installing a new conical wind turbine. This Windspire turbine is installed in the zoo's Go Green Garden, where it will help to power the ticketing and membership building. The turbine produces about 2000 kilowatt hours per year in 12 mph average winds. (The average US home uses between 6,000 and 10,000 kilowatt hours per year.)

Along with solar panels, the turbine will power provide about a quarter of the ticketing and membership building's power--which seems sort of low, until you consider the turbine's size: about 30 feet tall and 4 feet wide, making it more urban- (or suburb-) friendly than the propeller-style turbines. They're also cheaper to install. Quinnipiac University, in Hamden, CT, has installed 26 of them!

More info--including a video and Windspire's twitter account--here. The Cincinnati zoo also has a charming series of pictures detailing the turbine's raising, which can apparently be done without the use of heavy machinery.