what do you think about wind power for youre home ?

Question

ok, small wind turbines attachded to you house that could save you 30% + on youre electric bill and save the enviroment. but most of all free electric. would you install in in youre home? if not why?

Well b&q have just launched a big campain to help poeple buy solar & wind turbines more easly. The cost £1,495 per turbine, but these things add value to youre home. they are also so much smaller than the ones you see on tv. the problem is the cost of starting up. it is expencive.
also the hassal of planning permission.

If where you live its not windy then solar is the alternative option. but where i live when its windy its gale force winds!

Answer 1

why not if were going to save money, i cant see its to be free,

Answer 2

I have just gotten back on the 'grid' after over 3years with a windmill for all of my power, with mandatory generator backup. The storage batteries don't last as long as purported. The wind blows at different speeds where the turbine is and the ground. There is a lot of flexibility required in how you do things (only do laundry on windy days, don't flush every time, never use anything that makes heat (iron, electric fry pan, crock pot, toaster, oven). It is not too much trouble for the man of the house, maintenance is simple, but for the one who does the cooking and cleaning, it is a householder nightmare. AND it costs nearly as much, often times more, than electricity. It would be terrible to try to manage with children in the house, they waste a lot of electric. My only real problem with it was lack of free will water usage and having the rooms so dark all the time.

Answer 3

Hi near where I live in Chorley Lancs (well someone has to live there to keep the pubs going) Barretts have built a range of houses each with a different sort of wind generator and a mixture of solar power systems. They expect to experiment with these over a12 month period to see what works in practice and how much energy is saved. There seem to be about 12 houses and next year they are publishing the findings. The windmills seem to be about the size on the ones sold at B&Q. this looks quite a reasonable way of find the answers we need. They are putting the houses up for sale when the tests have been completed.

Answer 4

There was a recent comment on this in New Scientist about 3 weeks back. Comments had been made that a 1.2m diameter windmill would provide a "significant" amount of power. That seems to mean "lights, sometimes". To be able to power most of your household, the figure seems to be more like 4m diameter. That would rip the roof off your house, so you'd need a specially designed and constructed mast and foundation costing tens, if not hundreds of thousands of pounds. And if everybody in the neighbourhood had one, nobody would get much sleep.

The "small local technology" idea sounds appealing, but the reality is that there are significant economies of scale in a big generating system. Better to spend our time and money improving conventional system efficiency, improving consumption effiency, and developing something really clever like nuclear fusion.

Answer 5

Isn't it time someone looked at water power, all across the country are disused mills standing on rivers where they used to draw their power, they were all shut down in the good old days when electricity was cheap, and the turbines were dismantled. Now on the river derwent there are several old mills which could be refurbished as generating plant a damn site cheaper than building an erratic wind farm.

Answer 6

Your 30% number is irrealistic. The efficiency of wind turbines depends on the windspeed to the third power. Windspeeds below 30 km/h or above 90 km/h are useless. This means that you will need to be able to store electricity or give electricity back to your supplier.
The initial investment will take of the order of ten years to earn back.

Furthermore wind turbines are noisy and not really esthetic.

Answer 7

The problem is the "small" factor.

In Texas we're building a wind farm and one blade is longer than an eighteen wheeler. These things are huge. so I'm not sure small will cut it.

Solar is the way to go the sun will shine every day but the wind my only blow hard enough for a few hours.

Answer 8

Wind turbines aren't economical yet and noisy. In some places they could be used to pump water to a higher level and then a turbine used to produce electricity at peak times. I know someone who uses a wind turbine to power his fountain - good idea - rather than wasting resources - what he wanteda bloody fountain in his front garden for - I still haven't worked out!

Answer 9

Great if it's windy.

EDIT:
The thing that jacks me off is that nobody ever mentions hydro power, it's the most reliable and efficient way of producing energy. Wind and solar are bloody useless in my opinion. Last year - on the coldest day - when we needed the most energy, was there any sun? No. Was there any wind? No. I rest my case.

Answer 10

and what is the cost exactly of these turbines? And the installation/conversion? And the maintenance? In the desert in Palm Springs where they have thousands of windmills installed there to capture the wind, the cost of each windmill is enormous, plus they are only manufactured overseas and need regular and constant maintenance. Plus what do you do when there is no wind and/or you live in a place that is not very windy ever?

Answer 11

the bloke up the road from me has it. yea nice idea but its flaming loud keeps me awake and the kids. he doesn't have planning for it? i love the thought of free electric(well once you've paid for it) but id like to know if they all need to be SO loud?