Posted by vaughn on June 8, 2011, 8:34 pm
>Electric bills and fuel bills are rising steadily—but the cost of wind
>turbine energy is zero,
I just love the cloying smell of spam in the evening; don't you? It goes great
with the smell of BS.
Vaughn
Posted by Morris Dovey on June 10, 2011, 12:42 pm
On 6/8/11 6:25 PM, red wrote:
> Not receiving
> an electric bill while enjoying the advantages of the modern
> electrically-driven lifestyle is a wondrous feeling.
Especially if the elecricity source is maintenance free. :)
> In
> addition, people are moving away from the traditional electric grids
> and the fossil fuels for personal reasons including desire for greater
> independence, the desire to live remotely or rurally without having to
> “go primitive”,
Hmm - Numbers and demographics to substantiate that statement?
> this motivation to get away
> from the traditional energy sources is the same one that causes people
> to seek the power of the wind for their energy, giving more business
> opportunities to profit from wind turbine production and maintenance,
> which drives their costs down for the consumers.
I've somehow missed the logic of how replacing the grid cost with
production and maintenance costs reduces consumer burden - perhaps you
can supply actual numbers to convince this skeptic...
--
Morris Dovey
DeSoto Solar
http://www.iedu.com/DeSoto/
Posted by harry k on June 14, 2011, 11:04 am
> On 6/8/11 6:25 PM, red wrote:
> > Not receiving
> > an electric bill while enjoying the advantages of the modern
> > electrically-driven lifestyle is a wondrous feeling.
> Especially if the elecricity source is maintenance free. :)
> > In
> > addition, people are moving away from the traditional electric grids
> > and the fossil fuels for personal reasons including desire for greater
> > independence, the desire to live remotely or rurally without having to
> > “go primitive”,
> Hmm - Numbers and demographics to substantiate that statement?
> > this motivation to get away
> > from the traditional energy sources is the same one that causes people
> > to seek the power of the wind for their energy, giving more business
> > opportunities to profit from wind turbine production and maintenance,
> > which drives their costs down for the consumers.
> I've somehow missed the logic of how replacing the grid cost with
> production and maintenance costs reduces consumer burden - perhaps you
> can supply actual numbers to convince this skeptic...
> --
> Morris Dovey
> DeSoto Solarhttp://www.iedu.com/DeSoto/
I wonder just what the payback is on a wind power system. To be
viable it would have to have some kind of storage backup. Even with
no storage backup I don't see wind power as economiclly viable. It is
a very high initial cost item plus one still has to continue paying
the power company for their service PLUS whatever power you buy when
the wind isn't blowing.
Of interest, here in the NW with lots of hydro power, the wind farms
have taken it on the chin. So much moisture this year the dams are
producing so much power the companies are having a hard time marketing
it. They have quit buying from the wind farms.
Harry K
Posted by Winston on June 14, 2011, 12:03 pm
harry k wrote:
(...)
> So much moisture this year the dams are producing so much
> power the companies are having a hard time marketing it.
> They have quit buying from the wind farms.
For the moment, perhaps.
Weather changes, though.
--Winston
Posted by Morris Dovey on June 14, 2011, 1:29 pm
On 6/14/11 10:04 AM, harry k wrote:
> I wonder just what the payback is on a wind power system. To be
> viable it would have to have some kind of storage backup. Even with
> no storage backup I don't see wind power as economically viable. It is
> a very high initial cost item plus one still has to continue paying
> the power company for their service PLUS whatever power you buy when
> the wind isn't blowing.
The payback is likely to depend mostly on the particular system, usage,
and electric rates. Quite a while back I was quoted a price in the
$25-30K range for a new 2+kW system for a Minnesota farmstead - and two
years later (after I'd moved to the Des Moines metro area) found a used
Danish-built 1MW plant online for $18K. I could've justified the $18k
for the farmstead, but not in DSM, where our monthly electricity bill is
less than $60/month.
> Of interest, here in the NW with lots of hydro power, the wind farms
> have taken it on the chin. So much moisture this year the dams are
> producing so much power the companies are having a hard time marketing
> it. They have quit buying from the wind farms.
That's the way it works. OTOH, if you build away from the grid you may
be able to justify your own wind/hydro generating capability - but
that's unlikely if you live in Seattle or Portland...
--
Morris Dovey
DeSoto Solar
http://www.iedu.com/DeSoto/
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>turbine energy is zero,