Wind Is a Cheap Renewable

[Lloyd]

NOT

Not your average Wind Farm.




Lowtech Research]http://www.lowtechmagazine.com/2009/04/small-windmills-test-results.html]Lowtech Research

A real-world test performed by the Dutch province of Zeeland (a very windy place). Their energy yield was measured over a period of one year (April 1, 2008 - March 31, 2009), the average wind velocity during these 12 months was 3.8 meters per second.

An average Dutch household consumes 3,400 kWh/year. Listed below is the amount of windmills required, and their total cost, to power a Dutch household entirely using wind energy.

Wind power rules, but small windmills are a swindle.


47 windmills to power a household...Keep in mind that these windmills would perform considerably worse in a built-up area.

- Energy Ball : 47 windmills (202,288 euro)
- Ampair : 14 windmills (124,950 euro)
- Turby : 14 windmills (298,900 euro)
- Airdolphin :  9 windmills (157,932 euro)
- WRE 030 : 9 windmills (265,608 euro)
- WRE 060 : 7 windmills (260,309 euro)
- Passaat : 6 windmills (55,434 euro)
- Skystream : 2 windmills (21,484 euro)
- Montana : 2 windmills (37,016 euro)

An average American household consumes almost 3 times more electricity than a Dutch household. Simply multiply the above figures by three.

[WGB]

What a deal!

[mobile_bob]

cheap at twice the price!



in reality though and to be fair, wind can be a very viable source of power if you have decent "power" winds
over about 3 days a week and "if" you alter your lifestyle to fit the supply, or integrate windpower into a broader
power generation scheme such as solar.

most folks with a family and an all electric home, will likely find wind power very expensive in my opinion.

bob g

[AdeV]

That's a fascintating website Lloyd, thanks for the link. I just burned a good 2 hours reading all about human-powered cranes. If I had enough Meccano here, I'd be straight off to build one...