Bringing Wind Power Down To Earth
There’s been a lot of energy behind wind power these days, with talk of larger and more dramatic installations every week. But this may leave you wondering, what does it have to do with me? Would I ever want one of these giant towers in my backyard or on my business? Noble though the idea is, for many, this is not an appealing or feasible option, due to space limitations or code restrictions. But then you may wonder, would a micro turbine make a notable dent in my energy needs?
Last week while at the Green California Summit, I saw a beautiful and practical solution to this: Helix Wind. With its elegant, rippled white shape, and the ability to work with any wind greater then 4.5 mph, requiring only 14 feet in height, these turbines bring it all home, literally.
How much power do they bring? 1KW for personal, 2KW for businesses, enough to meet as much as half your energy needs. There’s no need to have a battery to store the power generated as in solar panels, as “net metering,” or power metering that accounts for energy put back into the grid as well as what’s used, can be used as credit towards your energy costs.
There are many micro turbines out there, but none has the unique undulating helix form of this. So? Beyond being aesthetically interesting, this enables it to catch air from any direction, more efficiently, with less needed. The unique shape apparently is also, they claim, completely safe for birds - one of the stumbling blocks to greater implementation of such devices. Silencing other critics is the fact that it’s, well, silent in operation.
Now what about cost, rebates?
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While not yet as prevalent as the ones for solar (have a look at the DSIRE site for a fine resource for local, state, and federal renewables incentives of all sorts) there are some generous ones happening right now. For example, the Emerging Renewables Program in California gives $1.50-$2.50/watt on systems, up to 30 KW. That’s thousands even for the smallest of Helix Wind’s systems.
To see them in action, have a look at this, below:
So, is wind right for you or your business? With systems such as Helix Wind’s, it’s looking more and more so every day.
Readers: What’s been your experience with wind power? Have any suggestions, hints, tips, products you like? Please share, below.
Additional resources:
Wind Boom Creates Rural Jobs in Texas
“With systems such as Helix Wind’s, it’s looking righter every day.”
Righter?
I love how the very first and only thing on the mind of anyone talking about the cost of renewables is how to bilk the taxpayer for them! Go ahead, cheat, steal and scam. Bunch of thieving scummy wankers.
They produce only 1 kW for home use? Let’s see… if the average home has 100-amp service, multiply by 110 Volts, that’s 11 kW… even given that a home is not going to use that much power except in peak situations, I can’t see this making that much of a dent in the electric bill, especially considering the cost of the system.
Reread the first sentence: “So, is wind right for you or your business?”
Richard,
Meanwhile, apparently you are fine with all the subsidies the oil companies get? Do some research and get your head out of your a$$.
Speaking of scummy wankers, maybe you should give a rest.
Have a nice day.
“They produce only 1 kW for home use? Let’s see… if the average home has 100-amp service, multiply by 110 Volts, that’s 11 kW… even given that a home is not going to use that much power except in peak situations, I can’t see this making that much of a dent in the electric bill…”
According to my bill, I average 24-26kWh/day, which if I understand that right, it’s about 1000W (1kW) per hour. Agreed it wouldn’t run the oven or the central air…but those aren’t on 24×7, so it would even out. I think 1kW back into the grid would definitely make a dent!
Richard muttered, “I love how the very first and only thing on the mind of anyone talking about the cost of renewables is how to bilk the taxpayer for them!”
Richard, what do the following things have in common?
Height, power output, minimum wind requirement, shape/aesthetics, net metering, and silent operation.
Answer: They were all mentioned in the article before anything about tax credits. And before you blow out another gust of angry, politically-motivated wind, note that net metering is a topic also related to the practical costs of harnessing wind energy.
So…first thing? Nope.
Only thing? Nope.
Get your facts straight (and lose the childish name-calling), and perhaps people will at least take seriously your political concerns.
Love,
Jeff
Fakebot,
I thought he said “brighter” which would make more sense :).
1kW at peak wind is close to useless for most households. Anything on a 14 foot tall tower isn’t going to give a reliable enough energy flow without batteries for much of anything, unless you have it located on the top of a cliff on the coast of Newfoundland.
This is Ian, I’m the CEO of HelixWind, maybe I can provide some clarification to some of the comments.
First, the systems don’t rely on taxpayer incentives to be economically viable. At 7m/s average annual wind speed, $0.15/KWh average electricity cost and mounted at 30 feet the turbine will payback in 15 years or less. That’s a conservative estimate and assumes we don’t see a huge spike in utility prices and that you only have the minimum of wind. Anything above is gravy and shortens payback times.
Second, an average American house uses 10,000 KWh/year of electricity. A good energy efficient home uses 4-6,000 KWh/yr of electricity. Our residential 1kW system installed with 7m/s average wind produces about 2,000KWh/year of electricity. You can install them in arrays if needed, so the output can add up over the course of a year, if you’ve got the wind available.
Third, wind turbines aren’t a silver bullet, they don’t solve all problems, they are good applications under specific conditions to help solve some of the problems we’re facing in the world. If you have those conditions, then this is a good solution, if you don’t it’s not, but we need a toolbox of different solutions to work on the problems that face us, this is merely one of them…