Please Freep Mail me if you'd like on/off
Posted on 10/17/2007 6:27:41 AM PDT by Uncledave
Wind energy carries the promise of tapping into a free, seemingly endless supply of energy. But those thinking to capture the breeze in their backyard with a personal windmill might be surprised how much the wind actually costs.
"Small wind doesn't make economic sense," says Paul Gipe, who has written several books and commentaries on wind energy.
The only people who should consider small wind systems (less than 100 kilowatts) are those who have to because they aren't connected to the power company, Gipe said. These "off-grid" consumers made up 90 percent of small wind turbine sales last year in the United States.
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A typical American home uses about 10,000 kilowatt-hours of energy per year. Depending on the average wind speed, a 10 kilowatt turbine with a 20-foot rotor diameter could supply most of the electricity for a house. Such a system will likely cost around $40,000.
According to the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA), a person who is living in a windy area (about 10 mph average wind speed or better) — and is eligible for certain government rebates or tax credits — could expect a payback time of 15 years on their small wind system.
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"It's like you are prepaying your electricity bill for two decades," Sagrillo said.
But for Gipe it's still too risky. A better investment is a bigger turbine that is more reliable and much better at extracting energy from the wind.
{snip}
He's thinking million dollar turbines with 100-foot or more wingspans — out of reach for individual homeowners, but a possibility for businesses and communities. Gipe wishes more Americans would do as some Europeans and pool their resources together to buy large turbines that could supply 500 homes or more.
(Excerpt) Read more at msnbc.msn.com ...
For example, in about a year a world-leading wind assessment equipment company will be introducing a several kilowatt turbine that they say will be about $5k installed. They are a very successful firm and have much credibility in the wind business, so it's something to look out for.
Please Freep Mail me if you'd like on/off
Yes it’s very expensive. I have a friend that bought a used Vestas V15 rated at 65kw. He has about $50k invested in it. He admits it’s a hobby and compares it to other people buying oversized SUV’s and boats.
what about those with boats that have little wind generators?
Even if you have illegals install it? /sarcasm
Is installing a wind turbine for your home possible to supplement your electric service to or do you have disconnect from the commercial power grid before using it?
What’s old is new again. Back in the 20s and 30s, before rural electrification thousands of farm families used windmills to run a generator and charge up banks of lead-acid batteries. “Wincharger” was the brand name, owned by Zenith Radio Corp. The household ran on 32 volts DC, though not much was required in those days compared with the current demands today. No air conditioning, plasma TVs, consumer stereos, though 32 volt “farm radios” were popular.
One of the requirements for getting “on the grid” was to destroy the wincharger or render it inoperable, so they are kinda collectable today for antique buffs.
So the cost to me would not be practical in my area of the country.
Besides, my neighbors would be pretty upset with the ugly configuration and constant rattle of the diesel generator.
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You would have to do some research on net-metering to see if your state or utility supports it. Net-metering is a contract between you and the utility allowing you as an independent operator to connect in parallel with the grid.
Here’s a start http://www.dsireusa.org/
In general you do not have to go "off grid" but can feed into the grid. You have to buy insurance against frying linemen and you have to provide a cutoff for the utilities. When you are producing more than you use it will spin your meter backwards, if you are producing less then your meter just spins slower.
“On your roof” is also a big problem. The vibration and noise would drive any family nuts. Mount it on a pole separate from the building structure.
Can you ping me the name of that company? I am really inteested in this.
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Before adopting alternative energy sources, you need to know what your energy needs are, then find the simplest and least expensive ways of fulfilling your needs. How you currently get the energy, most likely by being on the electrical grid, is your baseline of efficiency and cost.
It is pretty efficient for many uses, so your first foray into improving your situation should be: how can I get more efficiency from the grid? This means using less energy to get what I want.
One such way is by improving insulation, so that you keep more of what you pay for.
Another is by taking advantage of nature to passively improve your efficiency, such as having a city water bypass to a roof solar water tank in summer. Why pay to heat water in summer when the sun will do it for you? It takes much less energy to heat water from 130 degrees to 150 degrees, than from 75 degrees to 150 degrees. In winter you just drain the tank and close the bypass.
Finally, the use of a small active system to improve the efficiency of a larger system. For example, a small, solar powered crawlspace fan to pump hot air out in summer. Since a crawlspace can hit 140 degrees in summer, by lowering that temperature to perhaps 110, takes a lot of the load against the primary air conditioner.
In the hot, dry desert southwest, a swamp cooler that uses only a fraction of the energy of air conditioning, can still cool a home to 78 degrees, when the dew point is low. That alone can save hundreds of dollars a year. And the mechanism is simple enough for mostly home routine maintenance.
None of these, so far, require any “active” alternative energy systems for your major energy needs. But all of them would still work even if you convert to alternative energy.
And how long does the average American stay in one home? I seem to recall the national average was something like 7-9 years. Sounds like a losing proposition, then. I'm not sure something like this adds value to a home. My brother-in-law in Denver had a solar heating system installed, following the same logic. He sold the house about 5 years later and is convinced that system detracted from the value of the place (maintenance, ugly as hell, wasn't all that useful anyway).
It’s all about money,
If you are on the grid, you can use the grid as your battery with an automatic transfer switch and special meter from the utility company. When you make extra power, it goes back into the grid and credits your account, when you use more power than you make, you buy power from the grid.
The problem with this system is that it is very expensive and when the grid is down, you don’t have reserve power, you are stuck with whatever the windmill can make at any given time.
You can add battery storage but that drives up the power even more.
Please ping me when that happens!
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