How Efficient are Vertical Axis Wind Turbines compared to Horizontal?

Are you looking to build a wind turbine, or to buy a windmill, and you want to know whether it is better to get yourself a vertical axis wind turbine or a conventional horizontal windmill?  It is a good idea to educate yourself on the differences between vertical and horizontal axis wind turbines.  Obviously, you want to get the one that has the best return on investment, whether you will buy a wind turbine or build it yourself.





The challenge when it comes to a wind turbine is to extract energy from the wind.  According to physics, it is impossible for a windmill to exceed 59% efficiency when extracting kinetic power from the wind and converting it into mechanical power.  The remaining 41% of the power must remain in the wind.

Lets cut to the chase!  You don't really want to read a 2000+ word article to discover which one is the best, right?  How about I give you the answer to the question now, then if you are still hungry for more information you can read the math formulas and physics involved explaining just why one is better than the other.

The best type of wind turbine is ...