McMinnville farmer plants turbine, power costs blow away

[depakid]

When Mike Bernards began exploring ways to cut soaring operating costs for the 500 acres he farms near McMinnville, he looked first to the sun.

But after failing to find suitable solar options for his farm's multiple crops, he decided to harness the wind instead.

The search is now paying off.

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A crew of about 20 wind-product dealers, installers and utility professionals descended on the farm last week for a series of lectures and workshops. By Saturday, they had erected and connected a 120-foot tall tower and turbine capable of supplying upward of 25 percent of Bernards' annual energy needs.

"We were looking to somehow lighten our carbon footprint in a cost-effective way," said Bernards, a fourth-generation farmer whose great-grandfather crafted wooden pumps for windmills in Holland a century ago. "With the wind turbine, we think we've found what we were looking for."

Urban zoning laws probably will impede widespread use of wind turbines in cities and suburbs because the towers would run afoul of height standards that generally don't apply in rural areas, Barney said. However, taller apartment buildings and condominium complexes might be suited for rooftop towers.

"I've seen artist's renderings of buildings in Portland with wind turbines on top," he said. "There are still lots of issues to address, but the possibilities are definitely there."

The effort is aided by a 1999 law requiring PGE and Pacific Power, the state's two largest investor-owned utilities, to collect a 3 percent "public purposes charge" from their customers. A portion of that money is available to help offset installation costs.

More: http://www.oregonlive.com/news/oregonian/index.ssf?/base/news/1212375321161940.xml&coll=7

[OneBlueSky]

1. actually, wind alternatives that could be useful in urban settings ARE being developed . . .

"Urban zoning laws probably will impede widespread use of wind turbines . . .in cities and suburbs because the towers would run afoul of height standards that generally don't apply in rural areas" . .
maybe, maybe not . . . check this out . . .



more info here . . .

http://www.chicagoaudubon.org/pages/20-06_02.shtml

Aerotecture's Bil Becker Gives Presentation on Urban Wind Power

On Thursday, October 12, Bil Becker, CEO of Aerotecture International Inc., gave a presentation at the monthly board meeting of the Chicago Audubon Society.

Becker's company, among other things, makes innovative wind turbines that can generate electricity. The turbines are unique in that they are not propeller-type wind turbines, but instead, are helical, either upright or horizontal wind turbines. Their overall shape is tubular, and they can be installed upright or lying horizontally.

The advantages of these kinds of turbines are numerous. They are much more bird-friendly than typical bladed wind turbines. The bladed turbines become "invisible" to birds once they reach speeds of about 400 RPMs. At these speeds, the blades blur, and birds cannot see them. Becker's Aerotecture turbines are always visible, even at their highest speeds, which literally cannot exceed about 250 RPMs.

The helical Aerotecture turbines are also building-code friendly, and can be placed on existing buildings or built into new buildings without breaking building codes in Chicago (which is among the strictest cities in the nation in terms of building codes). The Aerotecture turbines, which are roughly 5 feet by 10 feet, will likely soon be placed on top of the Daley Center in downtown Chicago, as part of the Mayor's initiative to make Chicago one of the greenest cities in the world. The four turbines expected to go up will be largely experimental, and will help demonstrate that harnessing wind power in an urban environment is possible, and safe for both humans and birds.

- more . . .

http://www.chicagoaudubon.org/pages/20-06_02.shtml

[DCKit]

2. Not to mention all the other cool designs out there.

But wind power is only appropriate where the wind blows. Solar electric and concentrating solar will be necessary in other areas and a mix of the two (or three) appropriate in still other areas. Add in biomass, wave, tide and hydro and getting off imported oil within a decade or two is conceivable.

We're going to need a mix of technologies tailored to every single area of the country, but none of these things is even improbable and, after the next round of rises in electric utility rates, even solar should become financially competitive with conventional generation.

Finally, we could cut our energy needs by 1/3 almost immediately with a massive conservation and efficiency program - and I've seen it done in both commercial and residential properties. It's a matter of will in dealing with the up-front costs and presenting the facts to the people who will benefit.

[depakid]

3. These technologies are great for decentralized applications

and as we see from the article, rising energy prices create their own incentives that dovetail with other concerns people already have- to among other things, reduce consumption from the grid.

Not too far from here (Aloha, Oregon) there's a farm that's been using a decidedly low tech windmill to pump well water for many years. We biked past it a week or so ago- and it's now got a nifty new paint job.