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BANG FOR THE BITE
Cost-prohibitive out of the gate, but once up, minimills pay for themselves in about 5 years. Payoffs for the planet, however, come breezing in immediately.
COCKTAIL FACT
Gary Cooper turned down the role for Rhett in Gone with the Wind, proclaiming that the movie would be "the biggest flop in Hollywood history."
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home › tip library › Rooftop Wind Turbines
What's the latest whisper on the wind?
The Bite
Bite-sized and whisper-quiet, rooftop windmills put a new "spin" on a clean, renewable energy source. Put your Don Quixote Cliffs Notes away: we've got your cheat-sheet right here.The Benefits
- Lower your electricity bills by 30%. The energy produced by your new mill is easily pumped right into your house.
- Take a break. Many states offer tax incentives for installing windmills.
- Wind is clean as can be - even noise pollution is next to nonexistent with new minimills.
- Install a new turbine, not a new roof. Baby windmills can be customized to fit onto any structure as long as it has an open 250-ft radius.
Personally Speaking
Jen is looking into the possibility of putting windpower on her rooftop to take advantage of the crazy Montana prairie winds. Until then, she offsets her home energy use through TerraPass.Wanna Try?
- Southwest Windpower Skystream - just-released rooftop windmill designed with the US Department of Energy ($5,500).
- Windsave - plug into the wind using this UK manufacturer's generator ($3,000).
- Renewable Devices Swift Turbine - slightly less expensive turbine system, with video clips showing how they work ($2,900).
- Turby - Dutch-made wind turbines for rich people. Well, actually for skyscrapers, which are most often owned by rich people (€11,500).
- Database of State Incentives for Renewable Energy - find out about rebates offered in your state.
- Department of Energy - check to see if wind power is available from your local electricity company.
Jan 19,2007
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All editorial suggestions in this tip are the result of testing and a preference for the tip topic. No advertiser has paid to have its company referenced in the tip. For more information, please read our Editorial Policy.
Tilting at Windmills
You know, you gotta admire Don Quixote. Tenacity - even in the service of crazy - is an admirable trait.
Still, sometimes I feel like my attempts at living a balanced, green life are doing about as much good as tilting at windmills. Mostly, I feel that way when taking out my recycling. Even though there is 4 times as much recycling as garbage, I can't help but wonder how the hell I could use so much STUFF?
Ah well, windmill by windmill, I guess...
-Heather... off to crack an organic bottle of beer that I will have to recycle tomorrow...
Biter Comments...
Most Unfortunately for the future prospects of small wind
the wildly effective marketing of rooftop mounted machines in the totally unproductive wind zone of an urban / suburban setting (say "trees")
to a completely uneducated public
will likely create such damage to public perception of the that it will be like the solar thermal debacle of the Carter tax rebate days.
the answer to all this nonsense?
Do like the Germans did: Production Incentives - give people signif. $ for the energy actually produced by these sustems, rather than for upfront of system installation cost .
Don't we have to be concerned with killing or injuring birds if we put a windmill on our suburban roof?
Wendy-
Thankfully, birds are pretty safe when it comes to minimills. They are much more likely to get injured flying into windows and other large structural objects. Bird deaths are, however, a concern with the bigger windmills. Largescale wind power is SO clean, but may kill birds. There's a trade-off. However, the problem may be blown out of proportion, as covered in this interesting debate on Treehugger:
http://www.treehugger.com/files/2006/04/common_misconce.php
BTW, we found another nice article re: minimill wind power in Orion mag:
http://www.oriononline.org/pages/om/05-6om/Weil_FT.html
So often your tips hit home for me, but when it comes to "wanna try" - mostly they are American and I wish there was a touch of Canada too... j
Joanna-
We hope to start doing int'l versions of the tips later this year. Stay tuned...
I went to a "Sustainability Conference" in Berkeley, CA, which was presented by students. I learned a few new things, and one of them being that taking a bath is a terrible waste of water. I can't quote the "facts", but sorry you bath-lovers, taking a bath as opposed to a shower is using alotta watta!
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I love the idea of the installation of mini wind mills. Do you know if these fall under any state or federal incentives right now?
I noticed that someone blogged about the unlikelihood of installing them on suburban roofs. I hate to say it, but I believe they are right. However, I think that we tend to focus on the need for renewable energy in cities and suburbia and forget about the number of people who live in the other, more remote locations. For example, think of the single farmhouses/barns in the middle of large agriculture areas throughout the mid-West. Also, consider all the ranch homes scattered across the windy plains of Montana and Wyoming. The energy consumption from these individuals is equivalent to the energy consumption of a house in suburbia, so why not target these people for the installation of renewable energy… If these people were EDUCATED about the benefits of wind power (or solar power for that matter), and the state or federal government provided incentives to help these people purchase and install renewable energy, perhaps interest in this type of power would grow and grid consumption would be reduced! I’ve never looked at the statistics of remote buildings across America, but I have a feeling the numbers could add up.
The only problem is … how do we get people interested? Our education system about renewables must expand so that energy conservation becomes a TREND across America. Can this happen? Will it happen? I hope so.
PHOTO ALBUMS
Posted by: Ann | January 19, 2007 at 05:56 AM