are you happy with your wind turbine? - Page 17

 

            You are right in some locations, but there are locations
where the wind blows, and there are locations where the sun
shines.
            And even in places where there are lots of cloudy days,
PV can provide some power, but possibly barely enough to
keep batteries topped off.


           People a long way from fuel sources really need
either wind or PV or something, long trips for fuel is not
economical.

           But in or near a big city, the problem is more of
a problem, the answer for the future is head south, but
there will be problems if too many people do that. :-)

           If a person finds what works for them, that is
great, at least with several small generators, they
could be modified to run on ethanol, or if diesel,
biodiesel.

           I seem to have what works for me with low
cost grid power, but it is still expensive, and I have
very little backup electric, just enough to run a
small 12V TV a few hours a day and some lights.
           I have natural gas stoves for emergency heat,
but that has become too expensive also, so I need
to make changes this summer to reduce costs.

           Wind would do very little for me, some PV would
be good, I only use a 1.25 Amp charge controller to use
the grid to charge my batteries, so it would only take
a few tens of watts to equal that.

            I feel everybody should be thinking and planning,
there are just too many times when the power is off,
although it is usually localized, it is unpredictable.

           I don't understand the rules that only allow PV
or wind or alternate energy systems to sell power
back to the grid, in winter I would like to run a big
motor generator during the afternoon to use the
heat for stored space heat that night, but maybe
they don't need any added capacity in winter.

Joe Fischer