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Wind Power Vs others.

D

Drums

Jan 1, 1970
0
I have been doing research into alternative energy and it seems that you get
the biggest bang for your buck
with wind power especially if you build your own.

Home built wind. Less then 1.00 per watt.
PV panels. 6.00 Per watt.

I guess if you have lot's of scratch and don't have room for a wind machine
PV panels are cool
but for average Joe it seems like a huge waste of money.
 
V

Vaughn

Jan 1, 1970
0
Drums said:
I have been doing research into alternative energy and it seems that you get
the biggest bang for your buck
with wind power especially if you build your own.

Home built wind. Less then 1.00 per watt.

Yes, but if your site lacks sufficient wind, your installation will be
little more useful than a decoration. Sites with useful, dependable sunlight
are far more common than sites with useful, reliable wind.

Vaughn
 
E

Ecnerwal

Jan 1, 1970
0
Drums said:
I have been doing research into alternative energy and it seems that you get
the biggest bang for your buck
with wind power especially if you build your own.

Home built wind. Less then 1.00 per watt.
PV panels. 6.00 Per watt.

I guess if you have lot's of scratch and don't have room for a wind machine
PV panels are cool
but for average Joe it seems like a huge waste of money.

You are not looking too closely, then, or just not thinking.

Home Built Wind - Less than $1.00 per watt ON DAYS WHEN THE WIND IS
BLOWING FAST ENOUGH. But not too fast. And not too slow. Very few places
have wind that is anything like consistent and reliable. Even fewer have
such wind where you don't need a great deal of investment (which I
suspect your "cost" is ignoring) in big honking tower. A few do, and in
those places, it makes a lot of sense. Maintenance is not free, and is
needed. Lightning strikes become more likely with a big tower, and can
get rather expensive.

Sunshine can also be frustratingly absent, but is more reliably
available on most sites than wind of just the right speed range to
effectively make power. Thus, a kilowatt of installed solar panel tends
to produce a lot more energy per year on most sites than a kilowatt of
installed wind generator. A combination makes sense on some sites.
 
D

Derek Broughton

Jan 1, 1970
0
Vaughn said:
Yes, but if your site lacks sufficient wind, your installation will be
little more useful than a decoration. Sites with useful, dependable
sunlight are far more common than sites with useful, reliable wind.
By all accounts, the a bigger bang for your buck (I'm reluctant to say
"biggest") is from hydro power. Of course, sites with (legally) useful,
dependable, water are even less common than sites with useful wind.
 
D

Drums

Jan 1, 1970
0
Well, I am fortunate enough to live near a lake. There is always some wind.
As for to much wind that's all in the design of the system unless you live
in areas where it
get's really bad. We never see winds in excess of 80 and that's very rare.
As for maintenance I don't think most people would get a real benifit
Unless they do their own anyway as I intend to. I still think PV's are way
to expensive to justify
Unless you are in a remote area and need off grid power. I have heard the
argument about it's not about saving
Money. That may be true if you have unlimited funds and want to impress your
neighbor.
I have concluded at least in my area that wind is the only way to go until
the cost comes way down on Pv's.
 
D

Drums

Jan 1, 1970
0
I have a decent running Brook in my back yard and im working on a Generator
right now. ;o) I don't expect to get more then 50 watts out of it but what
the hell
it will be fun.
 
D

Drums

Jan 1, 1970
0
True that. I need to carfully Design this unit as when it rains good it
moves twice the amount of Water!
 
D

Drums

Jan 1, 1970
0
Eric Sears said:
In most places, don't even think it is an argument if you have access
to grid power. Its a fact. But again, it depends whether "saving
money" is your object. Even the laminates I imported from the US a
year ago, at about $3.50 a watt after paying all freight, taxes and
costs of having them framed, still do not compete with grid power by
at least three orders of magnitude.
But there can be other reasons for using solar power, including -
* security of supply
* a sense of living more lightly on the planet
* a hobby or interest, akin to my other amateur radio hobby.

I did use a PV once in an unauthorized fox hunt once. ;o) Using the Tree as
an antenna
it took a few months before it was found. ;o) I got to have fun with a few
buddies and they got to keep my panel. ;o)
Greetings from a fellow ham.
 
V

Vaughn

Jan 1, 1970
0
Drums said:
I did use a PV once in an unauthorized fox hunt once. ;o) Using the Tree as
an antenna
it took a few months before it was found. ;o) I got to have fun with a few
buddies and they got to keep my panel. ;o)
Greetings from a fellow ham.

We used to have a monthly fox hunt here. I once buried a transmitter and a
timer at the beach connected to a dipole just under the surface of the sand.
Naturally, it didn't radiate much, so I started the hunt only a mile away from
the "bunny". The hunters were in the area quickly, but then milled around for
much of the evening. It was fun watching people standing over my antenna
wondering why their DF was trying to point in all directions at once!

Vaughn WB4UHB
 
C

Canfree

Jan 1, 1970
0
I have been doing research into alternative energy and it seems that you get
the biggest bang for your buck
with wind power especially if you build your own.

Home built wind. Less then 1.00 per watt.
PV panels. 6.00 Per watt.

I guess if you have lot's of scratch and don't have room for a wind machine
PV panels are cool
but for average Joe it seems like a huge waste of money.
If I had the proper site to install a wind generator, I would use it
to heat water.
A small tank with a few elements installed to pre-heat the water
located before the main tank.
A solid state control would select the optimum load for maximum
power, depending on the wind availability.
If there was an excess of power I would use it to heat the house.
Probably the most efficient way to store energy.

No batteries.
 
D

Drums

Jan 1, 1970
0
Damn good idea. You could use for house heat as well.
 
D

Drums

Jan 1, 1970
0
Brilliant! The trees had a simmaler effect. If it was damp forget it. You
had to be right on it.
 
I

Innovate808

Jan 1, 1970
0
Here in the UK you can buy a 1KW machine for £0.50 per watt, which is by far
the lowest cost for producing your own wind power in the small turbines
market...It would pay you to import this machine, and you won't have to
build the genny, or do your own windings..
 
W

wmbjk

Jan 1, 1970
0
I have been doing research into alternative energy and it seems that you get
the biggest bang for your buck
with wind power especially if you build your own.

It depends....
Home built wind. Less then 1.00 per watt.
PV panels. 6.00 Per watt.

Wind tends to be less consistent than solar, so you'll need more
battery capacity which adds to your wind cost. Add some more for a
useful tower and the two costs are closer before even considering the
sweat equity in a home-built wind turbine.
I guess if you have lot's of scratch and don't have room for a wind machine
PV panels are cool
but for average Joe it seems like a huge waste of money.

The average Joe's sweat equity is probably better invested in things
less ambitious than home-built turbines. Towers, trackers and solar
water heating for instance would all be easier to get right the first
time.

Wayne
 
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