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| Kewl topic, Spike. Thanks!
I'm intrigued by turbines. We live in a windy spot, and would love to install one. I looked into them a couple of years ago, apparently there's one major company that specializes in residential installations in our area. It was pricey, though.
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Follow-Up Postings:
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| Carol, You may want to spend some time weighing cost compared to turbine out put for your area. Most of PA has average wind speeds of less than 16mph. Most wind turbines will not start generating until about 6-8mph some as high as 12mph they usually produce max. out put at about 26-28mph. In your area you are likely looking at less than 50% out put for a wind turbine. |
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- Posted by Pipersville_Carol (My Page) on Wed, Feb 18, 04 at 9:41
| I'm surprised to hear that PA doesn't have a high enough average wind speed to make turbines cost effective, I'd heard that there were some large wind-generation fields in the Lancaster PA area. |
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- Posted by rjoh878646 (My Page) on Wed, Feb 18, 04 at 9:50
| You might want to invest in a recording anemometer and monitor the windspeed in your area for a period of a few months to see what the actual average windspeed is in your area. This will then tell you if a wind turbine is worth the investment. |
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| A wind turbine may be cost effective for you but you need to do a little more research. In my neck of the woods we have average wind speeds of more than 30mph it makes wind a very good thing. Some of PA does have higher wind speeds but a lot of the state would not be ideal. Rijoh makes a good point about the anemometer it will tell you what you are looking at. Just remember the anemometer has to placed at the same height as your proposed turbine. Also winds can vary greatly from Try to contact the green power venders in your area. Go out and talk to some people that are using wind energy. |
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- Posted by Pipersville_Carol (My Page) on Wed, Feb 18, 04 at 12:28
| Thanks for the responses. Of course, I would do a great deal more research before investing in a wind turbine. I was hoping to talk to some people who are using wind energy via this forum, maybe someone with a residential turbine will chime in eventually. |
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| You may get more first hand information on this board. http://www.altenergystore.com/forum/board.cgi |
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- Posted by rjoh878646 (My Page) on Thu, Feb 19, 04 at 14:51
| Too bad you don't live in the state of Oregon. A university there is doing wind generation research and is supplying anemometers and towers free of charge to participants. |
Here is a link that might be useful: anemometer loan program
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| Pipersville Carol, During a recent radio phone-in discussion of larger units as part of the electricity generation system in this area, there was a person from the power system who said that wind power would not be really helpful during the periods of heavy demand - for heating in the winter and air conditioning in the summer - as our strongest winds are in the spring and fall. I can't vouch for the validity of his argument, but it sounds rather reasonable. That may not be the times of your peak demand, though. Thanks for your effort to tread with lighter footprint on our fragile earth, joyful guy |
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