In 2008, the French designer Philippe Starck turned his attention to designing for good, and launched his first very stylish home wind-turbines. Today, he announced two new models that are, in a word, visually stunning.

However, it leads me to wonder how practical a home wind turbine really is. Sure I want that gorgeous thing on my house. Other than driving an electric car or putting up solar panels, it might be one of the most visible ways to market new green tech to the neighbors and perhaps convince a few of them that wind power can mean more than an ocean full of bird killing devices (can you tell I live near the Cape Wind controversy?). My co-gen system is cool too, but not that many people are wandering around my basement.

But what’s the benefit? What’s the cost? How do I figure out whether I can get enough wind? The cost for Starck’s model, according to the announcement, is approximately $3,500 USD for one of the models and $5,000 USD for the other. The benefit: one of them produces about 400W and the (more expensive one) 1 Kilowatts at max capacity, but “capacity factor” (how much time is spent producing at capacity) varies dramatically–in many regions it’s only between 20-35%.

There is a decent frequently asked questions section of the American Wind Energy Association about residential wind that suggests a 1 Kilowatt system is probably undersized for a typical US household’s needs. They recommend a 5 to 15 Kilowatt system to offset the majority of energy usage. You can also look at a map of wind in your region on the Wind Energy Resource Atlas to determine whether you have average wind of at least 10 MPH. (On that basis alone, I think I’m out here in on a hillside in 02459. If you are in the Great Plains, Texas or California or on a hilltop, you may be in luck). And no one seems to provide great advice for dealing with those finicky historical commissions.

That said, even a 20% energy usage reduction would garner decent savings and Stark’s price points seem correspondingly lower than the costs quoted by the AWEA ($6K-$22K) for home systems. So while the Philippe Starck home turbine does feel like a little bit like eco-bling, if great design helps increase interest in renewable energy, a little bling is not necessarily a bad thing.