Michigan based Cascade Engineering has launched the Swift Wind Turbine in North America.

"With rising energy costs and increased environmental consciousness, we've seen more people turning to small wind. For the past several months, we've been inundated with requests for the Swift before we've even launched the product" said Michael Ford, Head of the Renewable Energy business unit at Cascade Engineering. "The Swift wind turbine design solves many of the challenges of previous residential and commercial scale wind turbines: it registers as a whisper on decibel charts, it's efficient, it's safe and it's clean." 

In a ceremony attended by Michigan's Governor Jennifer Granholm, the first commercial customer was unveiled in the lobby of the Frauenthal Centre for Performing Arts, owned and operated by the Community Foundation for Muskegon County in Muskegon, Michigan. 

"We were eager to install one of the first Swift turbines on the roof of the Frauenthal as a demonstration project" said Arn Boesaart, Vice President fo Grant Programs for the Community Foundation of Muskegon County. "It's not only a cloean and cost-effective energy supplement for us long term, but a "best-practice" example that will educate the community about sustainability principles and renewable energy technology that positively impacts on our environment.

"Given everyone's need to become more cost and energy conscious in light of anticipated energy rate increases and economic challenges, it makes more sense for organisations to look to alternative energy as one way to lower energy bills and operate more efficiently" said Lou Elkund, the local businessman and philanthropist who funded the installation.