Very interesting idea - maybe we can do this once "fossil fuel" runs out completely, or postpone that date for a while....


http://www.wired.com/news/planet/0,2...newsletter_top

 

 

There is plenty of room in West Texas and not many people that would mind....

 

I agree with that completely, that area (Coleman TX) being my homestead area most of my life.

Have you seen those Wind Farms just off of I-20 between Clyde and Sweetwater? There are literally DOZENS of those GIGANTICLY HUGE Wind Turbines mounted on hillsides spreading over a several mile span...Pretty impressive when they are all "whooping" around and around....

 

ERCOT studied the costs and benefits of wind power in three scenarios and concluded that expanding wind power in Texas would outweigh the total costs of boosting the state's electrical grid with conventional technologies.

 

Kinda interesting that the site is for a 'clean coal' advocate. Not necessarily completely invalid, but they do have a point of competitive interest.

 

Is it just me that can't see the map, or least more than a 1" square anyways.

I'm seriously looking into getting a wind turbine, or a turbine/solar hybrid setup. But only if I can make econmic sence out of it. Elec here in OK is pretty cheap I guess, the web site says $.085/kWh, plus the 'suprise' energy/fuel surcharge of the month, about another $.02-.03/kWh.
I haven't got an onsite price yet, but a 5KW turbine system, 3phase, is priced at about $21k. - any fed tax credit I might get, but with a new house I get credit for interest, credit for kids, etc, pretty much washes out any tax liabilty, so a credit won't help off set much. Since OK is a huge oil state, I won't be planing on any state breaks anytime soon either.

Anyone know what an avg all elec usage should be for a 3000sq/ft home, family of 4, well, 2 furnace/ac units, cooking daily, etc should be? I avg'd 3000kWh my first few months, and 5600kWh in Dec!

About how long to recoup my upfront cost for a system like this? should I hold off foem some amazing new technology just around the corner?

Thanks for any help!

 

There are gizmos to help you track the average and peak usage. Example of one is http://www.bluelineinnovations.com/d...p?mn=1.274.285., and there are others. Also, it depends on whether the power company will allow you to run the meter in reverse (effectively 'selling' power back when the amount generated exceeds what you're consuming). There are issues with that, including isolation of your house in case the grid power goes down (don't want to zap the linemen doing repairs of downed wires). IAC, COUNT on a fair charge to wire in that sort of circuitry.

5KW is a bit low if your house is electricity-heavy - heat pump load will be above that range, and an electric stove and water heater will easily be double that. Also, keep in mind that's typically peak power, and even with steady winds, you're not likely to be near peak most of the time.

The big issue with 'on-site' generation is that peak load and peak production don't coincide - and asside from massive battery banks or grid sell-back, it's very difficult to correlate the two. So, whatever you use for production will likely require considerable additional expense to get the production and consumption aligned. If the local utility accepts sell-back, that's likely to be the cheapest 'balancing' alternative.

 

I agree with Frodo that you need to understand your electricity usage before spending big bucks on an alternative generator. Reducing usage by a KWH/day saves the same amount of money as you would by installing a KWH/day wind or solar generator, and can often be accomplished for considerably less capital cost.

If you eventually do decide to install a whole wind- or photovoltaic- generator system, you will still want to reduce your usage. Reducing usage by a KW is likely to cost less than the difference in the capital cost to buy the bigger generator.

The first step is to measure what energy you are using, for each item in the house. Measure the watts, and multiply by the hours (which may need to be estimated) for each item. Then you can investigate available technologies, and make some smart decisions about how to spend your money. Installing new light bulbs and additional insulation is, for many houses, the biggest bang per buck. I did that last year. Then I got to wondering where the rest of the power bill was going.

I have recently installed an "Energy Detective" (available from http://www.theenergydetective.com/index.html ). The device consists of a pair of current-transformer coils and a transmitter that install inside the circuit-breaker panel of the house, and a display unit that just plugs in to an outlet. The transmitter transmits the data across the copper wiring of the house.

The TED unit measures the energy usage of the whole house every second. It displays the kilowatts, of course. If you put in the rates from your electric company, it also display the energy usage in units of "dollars per hour". It also has a USB port, so you can connect it with your computer for data-collection and analysis. There is software to help with that analysis, too.

I have only had the thing for two weeks, but I have already identified one surprising energy waste in my house. The old pool pump was using more than twice the amount of power than I expected. After also analyzing the plumbing, I found that I could install a much smaller pump, and that the savings would pay for the new pump in about a year. (Realize that here in Florida, we have to run our pool pumps year-round.)

 

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