Have always liked the look of savonius rotors VAWTs, problems exist with bearings, one bearing at the bottom needs to be pretty big to take the side loading, and if you have a bearing at the top it needs to be stayed, unless you are using a substantial axis. Then you will need a gear drive, where in a horizontal axis you can put the blade right on the generator shaft. Blade design is interesting, because you cannot have washout the way you do with aircraft style blades, so you wont get start up until the wind is cranking a bit higher than for horizontal blades. Efficiency will be lower, but they sure look nice.
Wood blades will withstand high wind speeds (lots of aircraft use them) if well engineered, carve your own, I will happily look over your virtual shoulder for design.
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