Time to stick up for wind power 10 August 04

For those in several states in the U.S., you can get Green Mountain Energy (www.greenmountain.com) to supply your electricity (in some states, 100% wind energy is available) in: Texas, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Oregon, and Pennsylvannia. Some of these are under different names, but above website will get to there.

100% wind from Green Mountain costs a bit more, hardly anything if you have already bought your SunFrost refrigerator (www.sunfrost.com).

They told me they can put up wind generators as the demand requires. For instance, they can put them on farms, renting space from the farmers, who can then continue to farm right up to the wind generators.

I also understand that there are small wind generators that are super quiet, that people can mount on the roofs of their homes in suburban areas to offset electric bill. I saw one for sale from Jade Mountain years ago ($500), but the company has merged with Gaiam, and I’m not sure they still have them….

Urban windmills are being developed in Holland by a company called Prowin. These are small scale windmills that can be fitted to rooftops of schools, hospitals, apartment blocks, offices, etc. The aesthetic impact of urban windmills on the landscape is much smaller than the larger turbines we are used to. More importantly, the effect on birdlife is minimal.

I think these urban windmills are still a little big and expensive for smaller houses but I’m sure the manufacturers are working on even smaller scale versions which would be more practical for home-owners.

Below I have posted URL’s to the Prowin website and another site with a report on the introduction of urban windmills to Dutch cities.

What do other bloggers think about urban windmills and do you think they could catch on across the globe, especially in America and China.

Report on Urban Windmills in Holland:

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/ArticleNews/front/RTGAM/20030131/wmill0131/Front/homeBN/breakingnews

Prowin Website:

http://www.prowin.nl

I rather like the idea of more windmills in urban areas – certainly the aesthetics would be positive rather than negative. However, they’re likely not to run much of the time – the reason why the big windmills are very visible on the tops of hills is of course because it’s windy there most of the time! Down in the valley there’s likely to be far less wind energy available – so solar may be a better option. I don’t see why all new buildings don’t come with solar roofs and standard green design.

I can’t help feeling that renewables, such as wind power, really are just about to come of age. A little creative marketing would catch this zeitgeist and solar power, wind power would start making a significant contribution to our domestic power needs.

I don’t know why solar isn’t standard on new homes by now either, Mark. I have read that California proposes incentives for those who install such, but I don’t know how well that will work out. The long-term benefits do outweigh the initial costs—but you still have to pay the initial costs. As for wind, I still say refineries and on-or off-shore oil/gas rigs are more of an eyesore than any windmill. But there’s no accounting for individual tastes, I guess!

Very interesting article by Polly Toynbee in the Guardian, 13 August, which considers the threat posed by global warming and strongly supports the effectiveness of wind power.

It is also critical of both the nimbyism of the Countryside Alliance, and the prospect of nuclear power (though personally I think we ought to keep an open-mind about the role of nuclear power).

http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,3604,1282160,00.html