Wind Generators

[MasterAbacus]

Hi all, my better half came back from a local DIY shed with some leflets about Wind power....

Looks pretty straight forward but i have a few questions..

1, Do you need planning to fit one?

2, How long would you expect a wind turbine to last?

3, Is 1KW option best to go for?

4, Any good websites out there with info?

5, How much do the Electric companies pay for your excess power?


Many thanks

 

[Chivers7]

http://www.lowcarbonbuildings.org.uk/micro/wind/

have a look here. from most reviews i've read it just isn't worth it at present

 

[mike++]

Do you actually get "paid" for generating electricity or is it just a case of the generator opposes the electrical power that you use hence you consume less and so pay less in your bill?

 

[Taylortwocities]

It offsets waht you use so you do not pay as much to lekky co.
If you generate more than you are using then you get credits but at 1KW that is going to be unlikely to happen very much.

Have a look at power ratings on some of the things in your house and u can decide for yourself.

One lamp = 60W therefore your windmill, if it is running at full wack, will power 16 lights, or half your electric kettle.

Have alook to see what you pay for lekky, approx 9p per KW hour.
Now look at the cost of your windmill (add in cost of a qualified sparky & ancilliary stuff to get it working) divide the total by 9p and you will see how long it will be before it pays for itself.

IMHO if you want to go green, walk to the shops once a week. Better for the environment, better for you.

 

[big-all]

dont forget 1kw is the max output

to little wind reduced output

to much wind no output [i belive]

plus any losses in the system so your probably averaging 40% or 400w usable power

 

[bernardgreen]

dont forget 1kw is the max output

to little wind reduced output

to much wind no output [i belive]

plus any losses in the system so your probably averaging 40% or 400w usable power

Too much wind will make the turbine either brake or break. either way no power. Wind speed and lack of turbulance is important. Mounted over or close to a building the turbulance of wind blowing round and over the buiilding severely reduced the wind to mechanism energy transfer.

Vibration if mounted on the building can make noise and affect the construction.

In short probably not worth it if you cannot set in in a area clear of buildings and tree etc.,

 

[breezer]

MasterAbacus, your wife has been to b & q hasnt she.

short answer dont bother

long answer

its g'teed for 5 years, takes 10 years to get money back, and everything everyone else said

dont bother

 

[MasterAbacus]

MasterAbacus, your wife has been to b & q hasnt she.

short answer dont bother

long answer

its g'teed for 5 years, takes 10 years to get money back, and everything everyone else said

dont bother

LMAO.... yes Breezer.... How did you guess....lol

Only went to pick up some bedding plants and came back with this great idea... or not.....lmao...

Anways ive been doing some re-search off here as well as reading the informative replies.... I dont feel its actually worth our while at the moment, esp as it will take years for us to get our money back....

 

[breezer]

i saw them when b & q first had them (couple of months ago) watched the dvd too (now they are just shoved away in a corner) its around £1,500 which means £150 over 10 years before you make any money, and by which time it will have given up and gone rusty. for amusement value, go and look at one.

 

[ColJack]

they're ok if you live in a log cabin somewhere in the highlands of scotland with enough room for several.. but for domestic middle of town situations, just not worth the outlay..

if you really want to go green, re-use carrier bags, get milk from a milkman ( electric truck, re-useable bottles.. ), walk to the shops, cycle to work, change all you bulbs to low energy, turn the tv and things off at the wall every night, turn your heating down and wear extra clothes, stop eating food that makes you fart ( methane.. ) and so on..

might want to try solar water heating as this can be very good..

 

[Steve]

They are pretty quiet, and make a pleasant whooshing sound, similar to that of a tree in wind. I have seen one up on the estate. Yes, they are distracting, but in a pleasant sort of way.

 

[Stoday]

plus any losses in the system so your probably averaging 40% or 400w usable power

400W ? You must be joking.

The output power varies with the cube of the wind velocity. So the average would be more like 100W.

 

[Softus]

The output power varies with the cube of the wind velocity. So the average would be more like 100W.

I'd just love it if you walked us through your working.

 

[mikely]

According to the BWEA web site http://www.bwea.com/energy/rely.html , commercial wind farms have a load factor of between 25 and 40%. Given that these are on sites chosen for reliability of the wind strength, it could well be expected that a domestic generator would have a load factor in the 10-20% range, so 100 - 200W average output, and possibly less.

 

[JohnD]

If you've got £1500 to chuck away, you could do worse than invest it in a company which has thousands of the things, but bigger. I did.

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