Wind power

What YOU Should Know About Wind Power!

Wind Turbine Power: Farmers Turning the Wind Into Gold

Can You Harness Wind Power or Not?

jchait — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 01:00:00 -0400

In my series of posts last week related to choosing the perfect land for your green home, I mentioned wind power. Wind power is cool but not all plots of land will allow for decent wind power. If wind power is something you do want to utilize, either right out of the gate or later on, then you need to choose land that works.

Some wind options include wind-powered water pumps or a wind energy generator. To make sure you can utilize this renewable resource here's what to look for:

You need reliable wind - year round if possible, although many are now simply combining solar and wind. Make sure to study the wind patterns in your area. Mapping wind rates and strengths can take up to a year - obviously because it's nice to know what the wind is like year round. But you can take some shortcuts by using the following resources:

State Wind Resource Maps
Wind Web Tutorial
For a somewhat hefty price WindLogics will map your wind for you. It's costly, but is noted as giving an accurate idea of what sort of wind situation you have.

Identify obstructions to wind flow on your land. Mountain ranges, a valley, a forest, buildings, and other obstructions can all distort the wind that reaches your home.

In my opinion, wind is a much more difficult energy source to estimate than solar. The best plan if you'd like wind powered anything on your land is to read a lot of good books on wind power - start with the Solar Living Sourcebook. for some good book referrals. Even better talk with a housing professional who has experience with wind and wind power density.

Want to learn more about wind power?

Inexpensive Residential Wind Turbine—Wind Power—Alternative Energy For Your Home

What YOU Should Know About Wind Power!

Wind Turbine Power: Farmers Turning the Wind Into Gold

What YOU should know about wind power!

Julia — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 01:00:00 -0400

There is a small town, very close to where I live, that is in the process of converting entirely to wind power. This isn’t the only place where wind energy is taking off either. Between 1996 and 2004 wind power production has increased four fold, and goals are currently in place to boost wind to 20 percent of American energy.

This is huge! The fact that there is a very feasible way to create and power electricity by natural means, and we are not using it on a large scale basis, is insane. Thankfully, people are starting to catch on to the craze and are no longer skeptical about its quality or performance. Renewable energy IS the answer, and yet there are certain myths that still persist, despite the truths about wind energy that are out there. Here are some of the myths to be aware of that may float your way…

Wind is sporadic and impractical- This is false. In reality, the overall decline in pollution emissions makes up two fold for the financial losses that could potentially occur when the wind is not blowing to strong capacities.
Wind power is too expensive- There was a time in the early 1980’s when wind energy was really expensive, but these days, production costs are under five cents per kilowatt-hour.
Wind turbines endanger wildlife- Loads of research has been done in this are, because it obviously would be a big concern for all environmentalists. The prospect of wind energy would be a lose-lose situation if this were the case, but wind farm experts believe that, when carefully place, turbines pose minimal danger to birds. The death rates of birds hitting buildings and cars are actually much higher- in the billions.
Wind farms undermine local economy- No one can say that they really want a wind turbine in their backyards. Studies show, however, that there is no evidence of wind energy hurting tourism or undermining local business. They also produce hardly any noise, which is another common assumption.
Wind farms are ugly- Okay, so they aren’t the prettiest of features, but that’s a poor excuse for denouncing them. Besides, the consequences of global warming already look a lot worse!

So be wary of the skeptics who may throw these myths your way. Now you have the evidence to back up all of the benefits that wind energy can produce. Spread all of the good news in environmentalism!

Want to learn more about wind power?

Inexpensive Residential Wind Turbine—Wind Power—Alternative Energy For Your Home

Can You Harness Wind Power or Not?

Wind Turbine Power: Farmers Turning the Wind Into Gold

MyGreenCottage - National Green Home Building Company

jchait — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 01:00:00 -0400

If you’re looking to build green with total ease, you may want to check out MyGreenCottage a nationwide builder of custom green homes. This company is currently all the rage, and for good reason.

Nice green guy, Ed Begley, Jr. recently became the official spokesperson for MyGreenCottage which can only enhance the appeal of a company who is already going above and beyond when it comes to green homes. It helps me anyhow. It's looking like Living with Ed (HGTV) is not continuing - which has been the great depression of my TV year. It was one of the only shows I liked, so seeing good old Ed elsewhere is kind of nice.

MyGreenCottage notes that their main goal is to, “Create beautiful, safe homes that are healthy for you, your wallet and the planet.” The also build, “Any style, any size, anywhere.”

Perks of this green home building company include:

Consulting, free info about products, fresh home building, and green home renovations.

The company operates in a paperless and virtual environment – a virtually unheard of achievement among companies in general, but an excellent way to cut down on resource losses.

They employ a stunning array of green home options including solar, geothermal, energy star, fresh air systems, wind power, and more.

Offers an on-time, and even better, on budget guarantee.

Builds for around the same costs of a conventional home.

They also build strong and very fire resilient. MyGreenCottage uses a MGC fire retardant building system. You can watch a video where they actually blast a MyGreenCottage wall with a 5000-degree blowtorch. Pretty cool.

Visit the MyGreenCottage website and see news coverage, watch videos, learn more about their eco-products and design systems, and see great galleries of their homes. Some a little big for green, but keep in mind this is client choice. You could choose a smaller square foot home design with them to keep things truly on the green up and up.

Today’s bonus:

Check out this video - MyGreenCottage comes in to do a basic green home facelift on a standing home using zero VOC paints.

Inexpensive Residential Wind Turbine -- Wind Power

jchait — Sun, 16 Mar 2008 02:53:37 -0400

Over at one of my favorite green blogs, The Alternative Consumer, I saw a post about inexpensive residential wind turbine. That's very cool, because while nifty, thus far, powering your home with wind, hasn't exactly been the most cost efficient option. If you'd like to learn about the inexpensive wind turbine, check out the Alternative Consumer post linked above. If you're new to idea of wind power, keep reading, and we'll look at some basic facts.

Wind is a great way to provide energy for your home, without depleting natural resources. Wind power has really changed how people can live off-grid, or with less of an earth impact in recent years.

There are many different sorts of wind turbine systems available. They run the gamete, from big to small, to less powerful to full force, and some are hybrid, which means a wind/solar system.

With all wind power systems comes some basic benefits, like...

Lower energy bills. In some cases people use wind power to reduce their energy costs. In great cases you can power up, using wind and other methods and reduce your paid our energy costs to zero (after all system costs and installation of course).

Bergey Windpower, one of the world’s leading suppliers of small wind turbines suggests that you first work on conservation efforts to save on energy costs and then make the move to wind power to supplement the rest.

Bergey Windpower offers a quick test on wind power feasibility. They note, if you'd like to, "recoup your investment in 15 years or less, you should consider wind power if: Your electricity costs more than 11 cents per kilowatt-hour (kWh), your area has an average wind speed of 11 miles-per-hour (mph) or more, and, you have one (1) acre of property or more."

Earth benefits: Thankfully, wind is still renewable, we haven't run out yet. In some areas wind works better (obviously) but proper placement can also allow someone in a low-wind area to utilize this system.To see what kind of resources are saved when people use wind, both eco and eco-economically, visit the Earth Policy Institute.

Power when there is no power: If you have a back up generator wind power is useful during outages, and if you live off-grid bringing in wind and solar can be cheaper than bringing in utility. Of course the side benefit is that you won't be dependent on the energy grid and rising costs.

No see a run-down of more wind power benefits visit NRG Systems. The Realities of Wind Energy is a great article that tells it like it is when it comes to wind power, plus offers installation tips.

You also might like to read Treehugger's take on one popular wind turbine question: Common Eco-Myth: Wind Turbines Kill Birds.

Want to learn more about wind power?

Can You Harness Wind Power or Not?

What YOU Should Know About Wind Power!