Could we generate our own power? (UK)

[jpak]

http://observer.guardian.co.uk/magazine/story/0,,1707891,00.html

Embrace micro-generation (small-scale, home-based, renewable-energy technology that powers your house) and you'll get decades' worth of clean, green power, freedom from the tyrannies of a global energy supply chain, and be granted immunity from the high electricity bills expected in the near future (remember, the era of cheap power is over).

Turning your home into a powerhouse not only slashes the volume of CO2 belched out by fossil-fuel-powered plants, but it is the efficient option. However, you still can't march into a DIY store and pick up a solar thermal pack or turbine and install it over the weekend; only 100,000 households in the UK currently have any form of micro-generation and the domestic grant situation is confusing - the current Clear Skies programme (www.clear-skies.org) will be replaced next month by a Low Carbon Building Programme Fund in April.

But despite these drawbacks, the new-generation mini-wind turbines on your rooftop suggest that the answer to the energy crisis - 30 per cent of our generating capacity will be lost over the next 15 years - can be found blowing in the wind. The Swift Rooftop Wind Energy System(www.renewabledevices.com) is just 2m in diameter and produces 1.5kWh of energy every time it turns. It costs per watt to install, and has a payback time of eight years; but look out for the 1.6m diameter model, due out this spring at around £1,300. The Windsave (www.windsave.com) is a little more grounded, requiring a pole and plinth, but the manufacturers estimate that it can save

33 per cent of your annual electricity costs. It's £995 plus ethical VAT (5 per cent) and installation costs. The payback time is five years. As for the praise that was once heaped on solar photovoltaics, which have proved to be expensive and tricky, that now goes to Combined Heat and Power Units (CHP). They work by capturing the steam which comes from the boiler and using it to drive a turbine which then produces electricity. To find a good one, try the Combined Heat and Power Association (www.chpa.org.uk) or keep an eye out for the popular Powergen Whispergen units (www.powergen.co.uk; 0800 068 6515). The first 400 were snapped up like hot cakes. At around £3,000 they are more expensive than a high-performance boiler, but will cut energy bills by £120-£150 a year depending and have a reduced VAT rate of 5 per cent. You can also get reduced VAT rates on wood-fuelled boilers (www.carbon trust.co.uk) and grants to install geothermal heating (see www.micropower.co.uk).

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[Dead_Parrot]

1. What the....?

just 2m in diameter and produces 1.5kWh of energy every time it turns.

:wow: Christ Almighty! I'll take two!

[jpak]

3. LOL - I saw that too...

I think they meant it's rated at 1.5 kW...

:)

[Dogmudgeon]

2. Two "market niches" for the USA

1. Windplants (turbines, windmills, etc.), as well as other renewable intermittent energy generation systems, from solar to tidal.

2. The electronics to route, store, and use the power that's generated.

I don't lump them together because of the possibility that other forms of renewable energy might become more efficient or popular. The windplant will still be useful, but most people eventually would have the better device.

How low can we get the price on these kinds of devices? That's a rhetorical question for anyone who'd like to tackle the economics of DIY alternative residential energy. I believe that most of the problems right now are political problems, not problems of science and technology. We're also in a race against time, but we don't know when "zero-hour" is, and we all know what happens when "the sooner, the better" meets the Republican Party.

--p!

[iamtechus]

4. Wind and Solar Systems etc.

http://shop.altenergystore.com/items~Cc~WINDTWR~CName~Wind+Systems.htm