Turbine designs like Swift’s quiet, round design (pictured) or Aero’s Parapet turbines, are creating more options for architects and landowners working with zoning limits and aesthetic goals. Rather than erecting a large turbine in the back yard, these small-scale systems provide reduced noise, fuss and investment.

Turbines are stereotyped as giant, lumbering metal towers that shred migrating birds, when in fact they don’t need to take up much more of a footprint than a weather vane. This duo of fresh new designs both harness new types of wind energy and are aesthetically kind. Small, roof mounted turbines have an advantage because they not only can use general wind energy, but their location also allows them to take advantage of the thermals hitting the building and moving upward.

Small-scale wind is cheaper, easier to maintain and fix, and is likely to neutralize what can sometimes become a battle with the zoning board. In most cases, roof mounted turbines do not change the height of the building enough to require a special permit. Though compact turbines do provide less power than their large scale counterparts, they can still usually pay for themselves in less than a decade.

Read more at Inhabitat.