B&Q pulls wind turbines from shelves

Julia Finch
guardian.co.uk, Friday 6 February 2009 19.08 GMT

B&Q, the DIY chain, has withdrawn wind turbines from sale amid evidence they do not work as efficiently as had been thought. The £1,900 micro-turbines went on sale at the 320-store chain in October 2006. The company said they would generate up to 1kW of electricity, wired directly into a ring main to reduce the amount of power a household needed to buy.
But last month a survey by energy consultants Encraft warned that home turbines generated only a fraction of the energy promised by manufacturers, and in some cases used more electricity than they made.
The results of the study, which tested different types of turbines in different locations, showed the worst performing devices provided less energy than needed for a conventional lightbulb for an hour, or even to power the turbine's own electronics.
On average the turbines surveyed provided enough electricity to light an energy-efficient house, but this still only represented 5%-10% of the manufacturers' claims, said Encraft. B&Q said it had decided to withdraw the turbines as a result of the study and after "many months of customer feedback".
The retailer added: "The Encraft study suggests that B&Q's range of micro-turbines may not perform well enough to satisfy our customers' expectations."
The store is understood to have sold hundreds of the machines since they were introduced.
B&Q said the study had shown that turbines on homes in urban areas were the least likely to perform well. It added: "The vast majority of B&Q's customers live in highly urbanised areas, hence this particular finding is cause for concern for the company."