Posted by Jeff on October 7, 2007, 10:38 pm
Saturday, there was a nationwide solar open house. I made it to one
of the houses here in Atlanta.
What I saw was my first urban windmill! It was easy to find by
following the "trees not towers" yard signs leading to the house.
At the average windspeed here of 9 mph, that should return 200 KWHr/
month. A little math shows that to be not the most prudent investment.
Nevertheless I like the spirit of the venture. The house had a
solatube light in the upstairs bathroom and a grey water recycling tank
that fed the toilets. I thought that was a nice idea and fairly
practical. Truely a beautiful house with new low e windows mounted in
the turn of the century (pre 1900, I think) R2 to R3 walls. I suppose
even more windows would have reduced the conductance of the house!
What I noted in the 30 or 40 solar enthusiates assembled was not much
interest in solar thermal. I think it a PV crowd that was interested in
windpower.
Jeff
Posted by thedoc on October 7, 2007, 1:59 pm
Jeff wrote:
> Saturday, there was a nationwide solar open house. I made it to one
> of the houses here in Atlanta.
>
> What I saw was my first urban windmill! It was easy to find by
> following the "trees not towers" yard signs leading to the house.
>
> At the average windspeed here of 9 mph, that should return 200 KWHr/
> month. A little math shows that to be not the most prudent investment.
>
> Nevertheless I like the spirit of the venture. The house had a
> solatube light in the upstairs bathroom and a grey water recycling tank
> that fed the toilets. I thought that was a nice idea and fairly
> practical. Truely a beautiful house with new low e windows mounted in
> the turn of the century (pre 1900, I think) R2 to R3 walls. I suppose
> even more windows would have reduced the conductance of the house!
>
> What I noted in the 30 or 40 solar enthusiates assembled was not much
> interest in solar thermal. I think it a PV crowd that was interested in
> windpower.
>
> Jeff
Did you really mean two hundred KWHr/Month ???
That's about 30% of my total usage.. !!
Posted by Jeff on October 9, 2007, 7:40 pm
thedoc wrote:
> Jeff wrote:
>
>> Saturday, there was a nationwide solar open house. I made it to one
>>of the houses here in Atlanta.
>>
>> What I saw was my first urban windmill! It was easy to find by
>>following the "trees not towers" yard signs leading to the house.
>>
>> At the average windspeed here of 9 mph, that should return 200 KWHr/
>>month. A little math shows that to be not the most prudent investment.
>>
>> Nevertheless I like the spirit of the venture. The house had a
>>solatube light in the upstairs bathroom and a grey water recycling tank
>>that fed the toilets. I thought that was a nice idea and fairly
>>practical. Truely a beautiful house with new low e windows mounted in
>>the turn of the century (pre 1900, I think) R2 to R3 walls. I suppose
>>even more windows would have reduced the conductance of the house!
>>
>> What I noted in the 30 or 40 solar enthusiates assembled was not much
>>interest in solar thermal. I think it a PV crowd that was interested in
>>windpower.
>>
>> Jeff
>
>
>
> Did you really mean two hundred KWHr/Month ???
>
> That's about 30% of my total usage.. !!
Yes.
Is that good? That's what the rep told me. Installed cost is somewhere
between $12,000 and $15,000.
It's a Skystream 3.7. Completely integrated with the inverter in the
mill housing. All you do is hook up the 220v line to your breaker.
Probably a super nice idea if it was windier. Rep claims it maxs out at
20mph, anything over that does not generate more power. Although it's
good through some very high winds (it brakes at 130 mph).
While I was there it was mostly not spinning.
Jeff
Posted by Mike on October 9, 2007, 10:49 am
> Saturday, there was a nationwide solar open house. I made it to one
>of the houses here in Atlanta.
> What I saw was my first urban windmill! It was easy to find by
>following the "trees not towers" yard signs leading to the house.
> At the average windspeed here of 9 mph, that should return 200 KWHr/
>month. A little math shows that to be not the most prudent investment.
> Nevertheless I like the spirit of the venture. The house had a
>solatube light in the upstairs bathroom and a grey water recycling tank
>that fed the toilets. I thought that was a nice idea and fairly
>practical. Truely a beautiful house with new low e windows mounted in
>the turn of the century (pre 1900, I think) R2 to R3 walls. I suppose
>even more windows would have reduced the conductance of the house!
> What I noted in the 30 or 40 solar enthusiates assembled was not much
>interest in solar thermal. I think it a PV crowd that was interested in
>windpower.
Flattening it and starting from scratch, even in the same "turn of the
century" style would be a greener approach. We have the same problem
here in the UK, lots of housing stock from the late 19th century
onwards which undergo a continual tart up and fit new windows exercise
and despite advances in heating design and better windows the houses
still consume more energy than ever before. Just about everything is
drastically underinsulated and everything post 1980 is just like most
places in the USA - built out of matchsticks and rockwool, although
swinging cats around indoors is impossible here. On the bright side
at least in the USA you get the occasional hurricane, earthquake or
tornado that gets rid of flimsy housing stock.
--
Posted by Jeff on October 9, 2007, 7:30 pm
Mike wrote:
>
>
>> Saturday, there was a nationwide solar open house. I made it to one
>>of the houses here in Atlanta.
>>
>> What I saw was my first urban windmill! It was easy to find by
>>following the "trees not towers" yard signs leading to the house.
>>
>> At the average windspeed here of 9 mph, that should return 200 KWHr/
>>month. A little math shows that to be not the most prudent investment.
>>
>> Nevertheless I like the spirit of the venture. The house had a
>>solatube light in the upstairs bathroom and a grey water recycling tank
>>that fed the toilets. I thought that was a nice idea and fairly
>>practical. Truely a beautiful house with new low e windows mounted in
>>the turn of the century (pre 1900, I think) R2 to R3 walls. I suppose
>>even more windows would have reduced the conductance of the house!
>>
>> What I noted in the 30 or 40 solar enthusiates assembled was not much
>>interest in solar thermal. I think it a PV crowd that was interested in
>>windpower.
>
>
> Flattening it and starting from scratch, even in the same "turn of the
> century" style would be a greener approach. We have the same problem
> here in the UK, lots of housing stock from the late 19th century
> onwards which undergo a continual tart up and fit new windows exercise
> and despite advances in heating design and better windows the houses
> still consume more energy than ever before. Just about everything is
> drastically underinsulated and everything post 1980 is just like most
> places in the USA - built out of matchsticks and rockwool, although
> swinging cats around indoors is impossible here. On the bright side
> at least in the USA you get the occasional hurricane, earthquake or
> tornado that gets rid of flimsy housing stock.
>
>
We also have foreclosures, but they simply leave the house unoccupied.
I think the underinsulation is a serious issue. I have a 20's house
myself but have been concertedly upgrading the insulation. A year ago a
drilled hundreds of holes in the siding and blew in cellulous (~$200).
For a 2*4 frames that should upgrade my walls to R13. It also stops
drafts through the walls (and vermin because of borax) and I think it's
the best thing I've done. I'm sure I'm the only one in my neighborhood
who has done that.
I have a friend in a Cleveland suburb where many house are made of
brick. Now, I know that there is not even an air space in those walls
and retrofitting it would be impossible. It's a beautiful house, but an
energy hog.
So I think we have a slew of homes that simply can't be upgraded and
even more that the owners will spend butt loads of money on that are so
leaky that it would appear as you say.
Jeff
XML site map
> of the houses here in Atlanta.
>
> What I saw was my first urban windmill! It was easy to find by
> following the "trees not towers" yard signs leading to the house.
>
> At the average windspeed here of 9 mph, that should return 200 KWHr/
> month. A little math shows that to be not the most prudent investment.
>
> Nevertheless I like the spirit of the venture. The house had a
> solatube light in the upstairs bathroom and a grey water recycling tank
> that fed the toilets. I thought that was a nice idea and fairly
> practical. Truely a beautiful house with new low e windows mounted in
> the turn of the century (pre 1900, I think) R2 to R3 walls. I suppose
> even more windows would have reduced the conductance of the house!
>
> What I noted in the 30 or 40 solar enthusiates assembled was not much
> interest in solar thermal. I think it a PV crowd that was interested in
> windpower.
>
> Jeff