Does it have sense ?

You could do the same with solar power to. Here in Maine, Belfast Maine to be specific, we have the dubious distinction of being the foggiest place on the Atlantic coast. Something like 265 days a year we are fogged in.

So imagine if I have a solar system, more than likely to heat water to heat my house. Without a forecasting system that I can tie into, I am wasting wattage pushing water through a system on a cloudy or fog filled day. If a forecasting center was available, I could tie my controllers into that and do as I mentioned with wind power. Convert back and forth to which ever system gives me the best bang for the buck. (wind, solar, grid, propane, etc)

I am not convinced that any one type of system is going to rid ourselves of our dependence on oil. Rather I am convinced its having the ability to miser btus from a plethora of smaller scale systems such as wind, solar, wood and oil that is going to allow us to live our lifestyles efficiently. This is the information age, and we have the controllers to do it, we just need a weather forecasting center that we can tie into to predict which system will work the best.

Do you see where I am headed with this?

It would be very expensive to build a solar system big enough to power my whole house. The same with wind. And while a propane system is cheap to install, feeding it is expensive too. By keeping all three systems small, and creating a system that shuttled between the best system to use, at the best times, and at any given time, you keep the overall cost down and yet the overall cost of energy per given household, falls as well. I think the key to this multi-energy system would be in predicting which system would be the best to use in the coming days. A weather forecasting system that could be interpreted by programmable logic controls would be in everyones interest.

Garry Foster said:

Travis

Actually 12 years sounds pretty good to me. That would be right at 8 percent return and that's not too shabby. And after that the energy is basically free....

There are a lot of problems with wind farms on a large scale I wasn't aware of. There are a houses near them that won't sell at any price. The shutter effect is literally driving those that live in the shadow crazy..

Garry

Click to expand...

He's had a lot of trouble with his windmill though. This is his third one. The first two were replaced under warrantee luckily, but they just did not work in this harsh winter environment. As is, this one shuts off at 11º which is most of the winter here.

The return on investment could be improved though if you designed your home to accommodate electricity. Our electrical rates are so high here that we are told at birth to not buy any big electrical appliances like water heaters, ranges, heaters, etc. But if you merged the two systems, that is heat your water with electricity when the wind is blowing, and with propane when the wind isn't, well you could gain more from your windmill and reduce the payback time.

That is because the Electrical Supplier here only gives you credits for the excess power you make and don't use. That power gets put on the grid, but you will never get a check for it. They don't buy power. In other words if you use 1000 kw a month, and 500 kws came from your windmill,and the 500 kws from the grid. Your bill would be zero. If your windmill made 1500 kw and you only used 1000 kw, you would get a 500 kw credit, but no check. So while your windmill might keep you from buying power, you can never actually make money with it.

The avenue I would like to take, and this may just be a crazy idea, is to make my own windmill. My uncle paid 14,000 dollars for his 3 kw plant. I would like to make one in the 1 kw range, a VAWT, but make it myself. That would certainly not power much of my home, but as the husband of a teacher that teaches 10 year olds about alternative power, it would be nice to say 10% of our power comes from the wind.

Looks like prices are coming down. Here's a 1 kw for 1650:

http://www.thecopperstar.itcstore.com/Store/catalog.aspx?catId=466002

Thanks,

Bill

Lee DeRaud said:

New rule: if you don't know enough Spanish to order a beer or tell the gardener not to blow-dry the dog with his leaf blower, you can't live in Southern California.

Click to expand...

whats wrong with using the leaf blower on the dog? I use the wifes dog dryer to blow leaves

Travis Johnson said:

That is because the Electrical Supplier here only gives you credits for the excess power you make and don't use. That power gets put on the grid, but you will never get a check for it. They don't buy power. In other words if you use 1000 kw a month, and 500 kws came from your windmill,and the 500 kws from the grid. Your bill would be zero. If your windmill made 1500 kw and you only used 1000 kw, you would get a 500 kw credit, but no check. So while your windmill might keep you from buying power, you can never actually make money with it.

Click to expand...

Actually, if the power company will give you credit for the power you generate equal to what it would cost you to buy it, that's a great deal. What you're doing in that case is using the power grid as a free (no cost) battery.

Just as an example, let's say that I generate 100 KWh of power when the wind is blowing (or when the sun is shining for the solar people) and return all of that to the grid. Then, when the wind isn't blowing (or the sun isn't shining) I take that power back from the power company. If it's a one-for-one exchange, my electricity bill is zero.

But the power company had to have generating capacity and power transmission lines that will meet the full demand on windless days (or sunless days). That generating and transmission equipment has to be paid for.

A fair approach is that they pay you the wholesale price for power - the same price they would pay to a generating company - but charge you the standard retail price.

So if your uncle is selling his excess power to the power company at retail prices, he's got quite a deal.

Mike