{"id":358925,"date":"2010-02-24T16:30:47","date_gmt":"2010-02-24T21:30:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.greenrightnow.com\/?p=8096"},"modified":"2010-02-24T16:30:47","modified_gmt":"2010-02-24T21:30:47","slug":"what-you-need-to-know-home-power-generation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/358925","title":{"rendered":"What you need to know: Home power generation"},"content":{"rendered":"

Editor’s note: This is the first of a periodic guide series called “What You Need to Know.” These stories will give you a quick overview of key topics related to sustainable living.<\/em><\/p>\n

By Bill Sullivan<\/a>
\nGreen Right Now<\/strong><\/p>\n

For most folks, the arrival of the electric bill is not among the month\u2019s highlight moments. Even families who work on conserving energy by turning off lights, unplugging appliances and easing up on heating and cooling, can only do so much. Ultimately, it\u2019s still pretty expensive to keep a household adequately powered up.<\/p>\n

How can we avoid sending so much of our monthly income to the local utility company? There are plenty of options, each of which has its good and bad aspects.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s a look at some ways you can take powering your home into your own hands:<\/p>\n

Home Wind Generators<\/strong><\/h3>\n
\"Home<\/p>\n

Home wind (Photo: Endurance Wind Power)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Having a tower with a whirling rotor in your back yard can take a bite out of your utility costs, but it isn\u2019t for everyone.<\/p>\n

For starters, you need a fair amount of space to build a foundation. You\u2019ll also need adequate vertical and lateral clearance. If you don\u2019t live in the country or have a decent-size lot, there very likely are zoning ordinances that would kill your project. Either way, nearby neighbors may not appreciate the addition to the landscape, not to mention the noise turbines make when the wind is up and the rotor is cranking away. (Most aren\u2019t very loud, but \u201cloud\u201d obviously is subject to interpretation.)<\/p>\n

And that doesn\u2019t address a basic question: How windy is it where you live? If your breezes are mostly calm, save for the occasional storm, there isn\u2019t much point in going this direction. Also, consider how big an impact the turbine is likely to have on your overall bill.<\/p>\n

If, for instance, you live in the South or Southwest, spring storms and wind can keep your turbine humming. Once July and August roll around? Well, they don\u2019t call it \u201cdead of summer\u201d for nothing, and almost nonexistent breezes won\u2019t do much to cool your home on a 100-degree day.<\/p>\n

Check this wind map to see where you stand:<\/p>\n

\"This<\/a><\/p>\n

This U.S. Wind Map shows that the highest winds, in purple and pink, cut across the nation's midesection (Image: U.S. Department of Energy.)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Assuming other conditions are good, you\u2019ll still have to install a pretty big tower to make it all worthwhile. In Hunt County, Texas, Nancy Riddick <\/a>went with a 33-footer with 12-foot rotors behind her country home in late 2007. The cost: A little under $12,000. By the following spring, she estimated savings of about 40 percent on her electric bill compared with the same month the previous year.<\/p>\n

Last month, Anaba Winery<\/a> of Sonoma, Calif., installed a 45-foot tower for about $20,000, a figure that should be cut in half by state and federal incentives. The winery anticipates a seven-year return on the investment.<\/p>\n

Small wind options for homeowners are expanding quickly, with newer models that are smaller, quieter and in some cases, re-configured. Throughtout 2010, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory will be testing small wind turbines so that it can make recommendations about what will work best in the\u00a0 “small wind” sector.<\/p>\n

\"Mariah<\/p>\n

Mariah Power's Windspire<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

See this NREL web page<\/a> for information on new small wind equipment, such as Mariah Power’s space-saving, vertical axis Windspire<\/a> or Gaia-Wind’s mini tower<\/a> designed for lower wind conditions.<\/p>\n

You also can start your research by looking at the manufacturing companies<\/a> that are working with the NREL to develop successful wind turbine prototypes for home use.<\/p>\n

According to the American Wind Energy Association<\/a>, \u201cThe wind turbine typically lowers your electricity bill by 50 to 90 percent. It is not uncommon for wind turbine owners with total-electric homes to have monthly utility bills of only $8 to $15 for nine months of the year. In northern parts of the country where less air conditioning is used, the bills can be very low year-round. The amount of money a small wind turbine saves you in the long run will depend upon its cost, the amount of electricity you use, the average wind speed at your site, and other factors.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Editor’s note: This is the first of a periodic guide series called “What You Need to Know.” These stories will give you a quick overview of key topics related to sustainable living. By Bill Sullivan Green Right Now For most folks, the arrival of the electric bill is not among the month\u2019s highlight moments. Even […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-358925","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/358925","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=358925"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/358925\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=358925"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=358925"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=358925"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}