"One windmill will power 30 homes."

[Holly_Hobby]

Just saw a snippet about wind power on the Weather channel.

What are the reasons we aren't doing this to power our homes?

[DJ13]

1. Whats the cost per windmill divided into 30?

Its just a guess, but thats probably why this isnt done more often.

[sasquatch]

2. "What are the reasons we aren't doing this to power our homes?"

Coal PAC's, Petroleum PAC's just to name a few.

[closeupready]

5. Absolutely correct.

n/t

[Thothmes]

9. Or those folks in Nantucket that don't want their view spoiled.

[lpbk2713]

3. Possibly ....

... it might be the same people who oppose cell phone towers who oppose windmills. :shrug:

[mbperrin]

4. Large wind farms are being built here in West Texas

Individuals are putting up several here in our medium size town as well.

The large utilities make money off their infrastructure - the more expensive, the more profit they make.

Most of the windmills here are owned by Florida Power and Light. TXU and the other Texas utilities seem determined to finish up on natural gas and coal. That adds to their rate base, as far as I can tell.

[Liberal In Texas]

16. Well, don't buy from TXU.

There are companies you can buy your power from that are green. Two I know about are Green Mountain and Gexa. We had Green Mountain for awhile and paid for 100% wind generation. My wife switched to Gexa which is green, but I don't know the details.

[alfredo]

6. Zoning laws would keep me from erecting one.

[hack89]

7. My town is builidng one to power the High School nt

[Fireweed247]

8. Wind is the way!

I think they are beautiful myself.

[izquierdista]

10. Windmill facts

Here are some facts about the biz for those who are wondering:

1) The "number of homes" figure usually assumes 2KW per home divided into the maximum output of the windmill. Thus, a 1 MW turbine is enough to "power 500 homes".

2) Even in very windy areas, the turbine isn't spinning all the time, so sometimes the figure is adjusted to 6 KW of turbine capacity for one home. That means the 1 MW turbine can really just "power 167 homes".

3) Large wind turbines are much more efficient than smaller ones, and the business is gravitating to > 1MW turbines on towers that are a few hundred feet tall.

4) The U.S. has been surpassed in wind turbine technology by Denmark, Germany, and Spain. China and India are not sitting idly by either, with big plans for more installed capacity.

5) Wind turbines work best in areas that people tend to avoid -- ridges of mountains, wide open plains, etc. Areas ideal for siting wind turbines are usually less preferred for housing because potential residents complain that "the wind blows all the time".

6) Wind combined with solar makes a combination that is more reliable that either one independently. If both are connected to battery storage, they can power an off-grid installation that as reliable as a grid connected building.

[kittykitty]

11. I saw a show on TV where they used these small, canister shaped "windmills" to generate electricty.

It was Larry Hagmann's home in CA. He had lots of solar collectors, too. His house was something like --I don't know over 10,000 sq, feet. But these small canister windmills were about 3'-4' feet high and they spun around with the breeze. Wonder what they were and how much electricity they could generate.

[Oeditpus Rex]

12. Northern California is

http://www.pge.com/myhome/environment/pge/cleanenergy/index.shtml

[L. Coyote]

13. Windmills were the common source of electricity before rural electric power.

I still remember ours. We also pumped all water with wind.
Today, ranchers pay $500 a month for what we did with wind.

[pleah]

14. They have them in Northern Illinois.

[dkofos]

15. Those numbers are WAY off. From the GE website, the generators

put out 1.6, 2.5 or 3 Mega watts. The majority of the wind farms
I've seen throughout Texas, New Mexico and Colorado use GE wind turbines.
If the average house uses 10 kilowatts ( and that is a high estimate ) that would be
1.6 Megawatts = 160 houses
2.5 Megawatts = 250 houses
3.0 Megawatts = 300 houses

3.0 Megawatts is enough power to run a small town.

[ThomWV]

17. Because to be an affordable energy source you need a lot more homes and a lot more windmills

The problem with that statement is that it is misleading. It may be true that the output from one windmill, when it is running, is sufficient to satisfy the needs of 30 homes, but it is not true that one wind mill will meet the needs of 30 homes. I'm talking about typical modest homes, maybe 3 bedroom one and a half bath, just like you'd find anywhere. First problem is that the houses are going to be set up for AC current. One windmill can be controlled to put out the constant 60 cycles our stuff requires, but that is more expense by far. Next is what to do with the wind isn't blowing. If you have 10 windmills and 300 houses you can spread them around and use the excess power from neighboring mills, but not if you only have one mill for 30 homes. So you need a storage medium or a connection to the grid; one is expensive and the other defeats your purpose.