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There is this new store in Danbury that is selling mini wind turbines for 5% off. Is wind power any good and does it support enough power?
Sorry, although I'm a big fan of large scale wind power from well-sited wind farms, I haven't seen anything in a "residential" wind turbine that excites me yet. At that scale and at current efficiencies, you might derive 10% of your total power from a mini-turbine if you put it on a 40' tower in the middle of an acre of land, and the prevailing winds there were over 10 mph. I'm not sure you could do that in Danbury.
These small turbines are most useful for small applications where line power is not available, such as powering a water pump out in the middle of a cow pasture, or running a few lights and a radio on a sail boat.
This article has a pretty good rundown on the situation...
They work, but it takes a lot of steady wind to produce electricity. If you live in a place with lots of wind that blows consistently, then, yes, give it a try.
The solar is more useful for home use because the sun is usually a bit more reliable than the wind (in most locations).
Another downside to wind power is that really strong winds can tear your tower down. Although that sort of wind could probably damage a solar generator, too.
A plus for wind, is that if you live where the wind blows consistently, the wind generates 24 hours a day and not just during daylight hours.
I am an appraiser and actually had the opportunity to run the figures on these mini-turbines. Texas has some of the highest electric rates in the nation thanks to deregulation. Ran the costs vs return, etc. The return on cost over the life of the turbine, even figuring an increase in electric costs did not show a 50% return on costs. That is, the return on electric savings was at most 50% of the cost.
Same with solar. A gentleman here installed solar panels on his home, fully solar. 3000 SF, cost was $60,000. He will not recoup the cost within the life of the panels, let alone his remaining life expectancy.
Texas has some of the highest electric rates in the nation thanks to deregulation.
Absolutely not true, and the statement makes no sense in this context. Did you mean to say Texas has some of the lowest electric rates in the country?
When I moved to Hawai'i a few years ago I had to confront the fact that electric rates are about 3X the national average, while Texas rates were below average, so the contrast is about 4:1.
Currently we're at 43 cents/kWh vs. the maybe 10 cents/kWh I'd pay in Texas. There I ran the AC 24/7 most of the year. Here I don't bother with an AC, so there are tradeoffs.
I am an appraiser and actually had the opportunity to run the figures on these mini-turbines. Texas has some of the highest electric rates in the nation thanks to deregulation. Ran the costs vs return, etc. The return on cost over the life of the turbine, even figuring an increase in electric costs did not show a 50% return on costs. That is, the return on electric savings was at most 50% of the cost.
Same with solar. A gentleman here installed solar panels on his home, fully solar. 3000 SF, cost was $60,000. He will not recoup the cost within the life of the panels, let alone his remaining life expectancy.
Hmmm. If your average electric bill is $150/mo and the average turbine which could produce the required power is $50k between 5 homes, you would recoupe the cost in about 5.5 years. Even if the cost was $100k, it would be 11 years. The key is to not have one per household. But, then again, sharing is just flat-out un-American.
I know a small business which had a 25kW turbine installed for around $85k. The owner figures it will pay for itself in about 8 years.
A dairy farmer in MN got interviewed after he installed a wind turbine on his dairy farm to take care of his electric needs and sell surplus back to the electric company.
He stated he did it because he wanted to and could afford it.
He estimated the break even point for him was 40 years down the road.
In Spain the wind turbines there on a windy day produce more power then nine nuclear power plants at the fraction of the cost of the nuclear power plants. Wind turbines often produce so much excess power on a windy day they have to be turned off otherwise they will overload the electrical grid. In these countries the wind turbines are hooked up to the hydroelectric system so that the dams act as batteries. They store water so that when the wind dies down the dams release water to generate electricity as needed.
Also even in Germany on residential houses solar power panels can pay back the install cost in 3-5 years and Germany gets less sunshine then the continental US.
In California many homeowners who put solar panels on found out that they had paid them off in about three years. In fact studies show in most climates most solar panel installations on homes at market rates pay for themselves in one to five years. The problem is the electric companies do not want to pay for the electricity produced by the solar panels and put into the grid. Hence why they are trying to get laws passed against solar panels on residential homes or get taxes issued on homes with them. Because if every home in the US had solar panels you would no need for 90% of the power plants in the US.
FYI we have tech that can make solar power plants even residential ones store energy for night use for up to three days with no sun shine.
In Spain the wind turbines there on a windy day produce more power then nine nuclear power plants at the fraction of the cost of the nuclear power plants. Wind turbines often produce so much excess power on a windy day they have to be turned off otherwise they will overload the electrical grid. In these countries the wind turbines are hooked up to the hydroelectric system so that the dams act as batteries. They store water so that when the wind dies down the dams release water to generate electricity as needed.
There's no question that well-sited commercial scale wind turbines can be productive, clean, and a good investment. The question is whether an individual residential sized wind turbine can be cost effective, and I believe that the answer is no. There are economies of scale with this kind of equipment that just don't fall into a practical range at present until they are much larger than a 1 kW home unit.
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