Wind power in the backyard

[nosmokes]

too cool. around $9k installed, mfr reccomends a 1/2 acre clear, they figure it pays for itself in 9 -12 years depending on your local energy costs. do this supplemented with solar and you could go off grid except for the excess you produce which you can 'sell' back to your utility.
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original-enviro science&technology

ES&T News
Wind power in the backyard

The turbine can be designed with a tower as short as 35 feet and can deliver 1.8 kilowatts of electricity.


Homeowners will soon be able to generate clean power in their yards while reducing electricity bills, thanks to a small, quiet, and affordable wind turbine developed by Arizona-based Southwest Windpower. The company designed the turbine in collaboration with the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory, has 120 orders already, and expects to sell 1500 units later this year.
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complete article here

[Straight Shooter]

1. I like the looks of the turbine. Very sleek, like modern sculpture.

I don't have $9,000 handy, though, but I've bookmarked this site. Maybe the cost will go down and some research will help me to figure out whether it will generate enough power where I live. There may not be enough wind here, and when we do have wind, it really rages.

Thanks for the link. :thumbsup:

[Grey]

2. They've been doing it in B.C. for years....

from Google.....

Farm Market - Second Wind Farms, Kelowna
Second Wind Farms is a family owned and operated farm market in Kelowna. ... BC in the Okanagan Valley, just outside of Kelowna, between the Rutland bench ...
www.secondwindfarms.ca/ - 5k - Cached - Similar pages
Large Wind Turbine Education and Training Services in the World
Our wind turbine designs have permanent magnet generators, they have good performance in low and ... Address: 221-1699 Ross Road, Kelowna, BC Canada V1Z1L8 ...
energy.sourceguides.com/businesses/ byP/wRP/lwindturbine/byB/serv/edu/edu.shtml - 25k - Cached - Similar pages
Large Wind Turbine Businesses in Canada
MARS is a lighter-than-air tethered wind turbine that rotates about a horizontal axis in response ... Address: 221-1699 Ross Road, Kelowna, BC Canada V1Z1L8 ...
energy.sourceguides.com/businesses/ byGeo/byC/Canada/byP/wRP/lwindturbine/lwindturbine.shtml - 21k - Cached - Similar pages

Grey

[TheWraith]

3. There are sites online with directions to build your own turbine from parts for a few hunded dollars

http://www.otherpower.com/otherpower_wind.html

Catch is, they have to be mounted on a tower, and to produce enough to seriously feed even a single house you'd need several of them running.

Those large kilowatt numbers are deceptive, because that's peak production, not continuous. Most of the time even a large (17 plus foot) turbine will only produce a few hundred watts, about enough to run a desktop PC.

[nosmokes]

6. that was what i liked about this one 1.8Kw is a great max output init?

of course, just like with solar, to make the most efficient use of it you're gonnna need to store in batteries for peak use times and all but with the technology on the market now that's a relatively cheap and easy thing to do, and once in place it doesn't require much maintenance, usually just a yearly clean and check. correct me if i'm wrong but i don't think any of the kits or the lighter than air models come anywhere near a production capacity of 1.8Kw? i've not looked into this beyond just skimming. i got this as an email and it seemed worth passing along. feedback apppreciated.

[TheWraith]

10. 1.8kw is decent, but not that huge.

At the link I included, they have instructions for building a windmill with a 3.8 kilowatt maximum yield. It's production in 10 MPH winds, though, is still only around 400 watts, going up to 1500 at 16 MPH. They also have an even larger turbine with a 5 Kw maximum.

[krispos42]

17. 1.8 kW is what your average hair dryer uses

It's about what one standard 15-amp circuit breaker in your fusebox can handle.

[Rosemary2205]

4. Imagine if everyone in America murdered 1/2 acre of trees.

I kinda hope the personal wind turbine don't catch on too well.........

[Big Pappa]

5. "murdered"

Thats a little strong. Besides most Americans do not a 1/2 acre to begin with so its a moot point.

[don954]

7. you don't have to clear the lot, that's just the recommended area

due to tower height safty issues. Ive seen several down here already that are on light pole type towers on smaller lots.

[Jacobin]

11. better than murdering Iraqis to steal their oil, imho

[Rosemary2205]

15. Just seems more environmentally friendly to

set up a wind farm on an old piece of already cleared real estate for community use than to sell to individuals in high electric cost places who will clear all the trees off thier property thinking they'll save some money.

I don't really see this as a dead iraqi kid or a dead tree issue. It's not either or to me, there are other options besides EITHER of those.

[itsmesgd]

12. I already have a lot that is missing trees in the requisite area. No trees will be cut

[Geoff R. Casavant]

8. So for those of us in less windy areas --

What is the cost of installing a comparable solar apparatus? Here in my town, lots of sun, especially in summer, but wind is more variable.

Wind looks to be about $5K per kilowatt.

[TheWraith]

9. Solar's more expensive, think around $10k to $15k per kilowatt.

Of course, in any power setup like wind or solar, you should absolutely not look at watts or kilowatts, because these are deceptive. What you should look at is watt-hours and kilowatt-hours. For instance, a solar system might be rated at 1 kilowatt, but it can usually only produce close to this for a few hours a day around noon. You should check your existing power bill for your monthly kilowatt-hour consumption, then compare the output of a given solar system to find whether you'd save enough to make it at all feasible.

[Geoff R. Casavant]

16. Thanks for the info

I expect solar might be most cost-efficient in the summers, to help defray the cost of all the AC we Texans need.

We have a tall playhouse in our yeard, so a full windmill rig would be out of the question, but I wonder about the feasibility of setting up a small windmill farm on the roof.

[TX-RAT]

13. Nothing new here.

Been doing it since the 20's.

[sweetheart]

14. noise

When the wind is blowing, the whining, whumping or whirring of the blades,
depending on how you describe sound, is really irritating. There is a new model
i've seen from a london newspaper that has a cowling that claims to reduce the noise.
Unless i could get a noise reduction cowling, there's no way in hell i'd put a turbine
near my dwelling house.

I know several of these turbine installations, and have visited several under wind
conditions to test the noise of turbines... no way.

[karlrschneider]

18. More discussion on this, fairly interesting

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x172201