ROTFL
Well, it is Mother Earth News... I would add a wind scoop to broaden the intake area.
I agree, the use of at least one level of belt gearing would give you better RPM, but would then need higher wind speed to drive the blades.
I wonder what the actual power output of this system really is?
you can see in the vid even that winds were high and it just barely surged into charging voltage range and that at probably no load
actual power output of this system would be in the range of 1000 to 1500 watts at 12 volts 10kw at 100 volt thereabouts
of course this is assuming cyclonic and faster wind speeds.
That has always been the disadvantage of reusing car alternators the friction involved in the gearing takes a lot away from efficiency
plus the energy needed to run the rotor coil also takes away from efficiency.But it is very possible you just need to build it a little
bigger to compensate for losses.
The larger the blades and swept area the slower the wind can be to start producing useable electricity basically the blades just have to be of the best size to overcome friction losses and produce good energy at average wind speeds for the area.but not so large
that they cannot be controlled/shut down in above average speeds.