Residential windmill saves money, the environment

Even if you're not into that whole "respecting the environment" thing, how many of you homeowners out there haven't dreamed of slashing or even eliminating your electricity bills? Well a new residential windmill from a company called Southwest Windpower promises to not only help keep you green by reducing your dependency on coal-fired power plants, but to actually provide up to 90% of the juice that a typical household consumes in a year (and by typical, they aren't talking about your 5-computer, 10-monitor family). Even better, the so-called Skystream 3.7, which incorporates its controls and inverter right into the main unit, will automatically switch your house over to grid power if winds fall below 8MPH (maximum efficiency is reached at 20MPH) -- no storage batteries necessary. At around $8,500 including installation of the 35-foot-tower, the Skystream supposedly pays for itself within four to twelve years depending on local wind levels and electricity costs, and if you're really frugal with the juice, some municipalities will even allow you to sell unused output back to the power company. Just because this is fit for residential installations, though, doesn't mean that just anybody can pick one up -- Southwest recommends that you own an acre of land in an area that averages 10MPH wind speeds, and of course, that not-unobtrusive tower needs to comply with local zoning laws -- so the millions of us living in dense urban settings or gated communities will have to continue paying through the nose and destroying the environment in order to power our many gadgets.

[Via Gizmag]

[Timmy @ Jul 5th 2006 7:38PM]

Residential windmill saves money, the environment, kills endagered birds! Win, Win and Win!!!

[Scott @ Jul 5th 2006 7:39PM]

Now where is Don Quixote where we need him?

[Joseph @ Jul 5th 2006 7:42PM]

mmmm chopped birds. a boon to cats everywhere :)

[E-Rock @ Jul 5th 2006 7:47PM]

35ft tower? I guess it's still cool for a farm or cabin, but you're not gonna see these in the 'burbs.

[Victor @ Jul 5th 2006 8:05PM]

I want one....Looks like a great idea, but who actually lives somewhere for that long unless your retired.

[BH @ Jul 5th 2006 8:17PM]

Link above for average wind speeds by US city.

[Bob @ Aug 16th 2007 2:58PM]

The Noise pollution argument is a joke. Prince Edward Island, Canada has one of the worlds largest windmill farms- these are MASSIVE (30-40 foot blades) and standing directly under it you can barely hear a thing.

[Justin @ Jul 5th 2006 8:18PM]

They've tried setting up wind farms in Australia. It sounds really good in theory but the constant buzzing sound in the background will slowly drive anyone crazy... which really is noise pollution.

[Oak Country @ Jul 5th 2006 8:53PM]

I heard a developer talking about maybe doing this in Ramona as a part of the development of a group of expensive homes, I doubt it'll happen but it would be interesting looking.

[Kyteland @ Jul 5th 2006 9:16PM]

The constant sound gets very annoying. Enough so that neighbors have gone to the courts to get them declared a nuisance and have them removed.

[Cody @ Jul 5th 2006 9:28PM]

Regulators inside the housing are a bad idea, when they break, which they do, you have to take the whole thing down off the 35' pool. Better to have them separate, on the ground.

[James @ Jul 5th 2006 9:56PM]

I think I can live with the noise.

All that untapped energy from wind. Everyone should have one in their backyard.

[akijikan @ Jul 5th 2006 10:14PM]

yeah, the homeowners association would have a field day with that thing...

[John @ Jul 5th 2006 10:42PM]

Well, I think power companies need to start switching to these. I mean come on, do we still live in the 1800's? We cant keep raping the enviroment like this. I wonder if theres some kind of tax break for these (probably not from this pro oil/big company country)

[Scott @ Jul 5th 2006 10:42PM]

Is there anyway to Silence a Windmill?

[hastings @ Jul 5th 2006 11:00PM]

Forget about using it in suburbs, how about in cottage country!

Anybody with a modest amount of land surrounding their cottage could easily get one of these installed and have a great alternative. Heck, since most of us aren't out at our cottage half as much as we'd like, you could probably find a way to sell some of it to your neighbours.

[[Jesse] @ Jul 5th 2006 11:02PM]

This would be great in North Dakota!

[DT @ Jul 5th 2006 11:20PM]

Scott,
Rocket propelled grenade?

[granny down east @ Jul 5th 2006 11:21PM]

We had one in Boone, NC in the 70s. It was great big- 90 ft. blades- stood on top of Howard's Knob and generated enough power to run the whole town, plus Appalachian State university.
It interfered with TV reception in a subdivision and it broke often. The power company deep-sixed it. Too bad.
But I now live on the coast and believe me, I could live with the relatively small noise from this setup.

[granny down east @ Jul 5th 2006 11:29PM]

...and John, by law, if you generate more power than you use, the utility company you are connected with must purchase the excess from you.
And yeah, all kinds of tax incentives.

[DrBuzzo @ Jul 5th 2006 11:29PM]

Yes... there is a government tax break for wind/solar power. Don't get too excited about this one just yet though. It all depends on your area's suitability for wind power. According to the DOE, the area I live in ranks as a 1 to 2 on a scale of zero to ten. With ten being susained high speed wind and zero being almost no wind at all. That makes my area "impractical" for wind power turbines of less than 30 meters high. Apparently I live in an area with generally low wind speed and frequeny still air.

Oh well...


Personally, I'm fighting for more nuclear reactors. But oh well.. that's a completely different story.

[LittleJoe @ Jul 5th 2006 11:52PM]

The college town about 40 mins outside of town is nothing but constant wind all year round. And its surrounded by farmland. For a university with some 20,000 students and town with a population of 60,000... wind power would not be a bad idea.

People wonder where in the world it would be plausible to use massive wind farms... but until youve driven cross country in a CAR (not a plane) you will not realize how much of this country is rural small towns, in open and windy plains.

[Karan @ Jul 6th 2006 12:08AM]

Interesting there hasn't been more discussion about solar here. Residential solar panels could acheive a similar effect - there's space on top of the roof that basically isn't being used.

In Australia (where I live) this has been said to be one of the viable solutions to global warming - mandate that all new houses have solar panels. The government is already subsidising the cost of panels, but it still stays very high. Don't know how viable it is in cloudier locations or those with snow.

[Tyler @ Jul 6th 2006 12:13AM]

So, what if we bought the entire state of Kansas and converted it into a giant windfarm. Maybe a nuclear power plant every few counties. It's centrally located and all that, so it's lookin like a winner. Who's in? Nobody cares about Kansas anyways lol

[DrBuzzo @ Jul 6th 2006 12:32AM]

There's one problem with wind and solar which makes them impractical as a primary source of grid power. A conventional power plant (be it coal, gas, nuclear) produces the highest power output when it is needed and the lowest when the need is low. If you have a very hot day when a lot of energy is consumed, or a day when other power plants are out of service, you can feed more coal/gas/oil or raise the control rods.

Solar or wind power has the highest output when it the conditions are best. If you have a very high-demand day and the wind is very slow or it is cloudy out, you're out of luck. (storing grid power in batteries is not really practical).

Of course, this is not to say that it could not help supliment the power grid. It just could not be the primary source.

[Agatha @ Jul 6th 2006 12:44AM]

Technically speaking, windmill isn't the right term. You don't see these guys crunching grain, do ye? It's a generator. Eh, whatever.

We've tried calculating costs for installing one of these, and it usually turns out to be too impractical. From various sources, the BEST estimates in a more or less average area for enough wind to generate power were something around 7-10% of the year. It's nice to say how much power it generates, but if you only get that power 7% of the year, there's a lot of time there to make up.
Now, I looked up a lot of this stuff because we live out in rural Canada (so a few things are different up here), but we still calculated it to take something like 20 years to pay off at current energy prices.
We're getting out energy off of nuclear, so we're not too bad off really, so I think we'll hold off getting wind power any time soon.

[LittleJoe @ Jul 6th 2006 12:53AM]

"what if we bought the entire state of kansas?"

haha that actually dosent sound like a bad idea :P

[Exabrial @ Jul 6th 2006 1:18AM]

Little Joe,
I read your post and I'm pretty dammed sure you go to Kansas State University... heh

http://www.aquilaenergyresources.com/aer/renewable/graycounty.shtml

And the answer to the question, "Why does the wind blow in Kansas?" is simply "Nebraska sucks and Oklahoma blows"

[Frankenstein Black @ Jul 6th 2006 2:34AM]

I once looked in a crystal ball and saw an alternate future in which greedy War and Oil Robber Barons did not rule the world. A world full of wondrous things like clean air and water, a care for fellow man and planet earth, no global warming, solar and wind powered homes, high-speed maglev trains, electric, hydrogen and bio powered vehicles.

Our neighbors to the south; Mexico the Caribbean, Central and South America produced tons of barrels of Bio fuels (yes the good folks that picked oranges and lettuce for pennies went home because there were jobs and millions to be made there. Machines replaced them). Oh yea, even the promise of flying cars was kept.

No, this is not “pie in the sky”. It is not even that “amazing”. It is just simply what should be! If only you could see the wondrous things that I have seen. A world free of the paralyzing grip of ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT is a sight to behold indeed!!

[vagrant @ Jul 6th 2006 2:35AM]

I believe they noted the optimum wind speed was 20mph. Basically, if it isn't always windy where you live, and I don't mean a breeze, these things need wind...it's not worth it.

Now, if you decided to live off of the grid, wind would help assist with your existing solar solution, and you could pick up something for under $500.

Remember kidz to pay attention to the solution someone is trying to sell you. It's usually "on the grid". That means when you generate excess power, they must buy it back (at least in California) Now...here's the thing, if the grid goes out, your power goes out too.

What's that, you generate your own power...sure you do and where's your expensive battery system to power your home to run those power sucking devices...you know, the one you're looking at now to read this.

Anyways, solar & wind are all good efforts and in time and advancements in battery solutions...you never know. Until then, I recommend Nuclear power plants and lots of them.

[Stuart @ Jul 6th 2006 4:58AM]

These things will never take off. We have wind farms all over the place in scotland - Disgusting things.

Nucleur is our ONLY viable source of power at the moment, i would love to see an alternative, but it ain't happning for a long time (or untill Fusion becomes a reality)

So, stop campaigning for wind turbines and solar panels, it takes more energy to make one than they will EVER produce, thus..its an inefficient system altogether.

Go get nucleur, it works out cheapest in the end. (Taking into account oil+gas and their ever increasing prices)


It's $8/gallon of petrol here in scotland by the way!!!

[limit @ Jul 6th 2006 5:35AM]

Someone just off the 10 freeway by Pomona CA has a windmill (an old farm type). The 18 hours a day of air displacement from passing cars and trucks...

[Fang @ Jul 6th 2006 6:01AM]

I knew this alternative energy guy who install these systems(solar,wind...) in the Northern California professionally, and he put one in his yard a few years ago....and the NOISE just drove him crazy.

He gave this warning to everyone who ask for a backyard windmill, and talk everyone(not having a big yard) of his client out of it.

I am guessing this new curved/sweeped blades will decreased the noise somewhat. BUT I am guessing asking for "an acre of land" meant that they want you to put this thing at the FAR end corner.

[Solar Energy @ Jul 6th 2006 11:14AM]

"stop campaigning for wind turbines and solar panels, it takes more energy to make one than they will EVER produce, thus..its an inefficient system altogether."

This is a myth. Stuart care to site a source?

To the best of my knowledge it takes only 3-6 months for a wind turbine to pay off the energy used to produce it. It can then go on to produce clean renewable energy for up to twenty years.

James
Alternative Energy Blog

[Guruboy @ Jul 6th 2006 12:00PM]

I saw a report on the news about a guy who had his own windmill. He lived in the 'burbs and his whole neighborhood was up in arms about how ugly the tower was. However the legal maximum height for an object in a home in that area was 5 inches higher than his mill, so it wasn't illegal. I must admit I'm rooting for the people that use these rather than the people that either hate a little noise or the look of the windmill. I live in the country sort of, I have a front and backyard that are larger than my house, so that counts) and would seriously consider getting something like this. Hell, if it produced enought electricity, I'd consider getting one of those Lith-ion battery installations on my Highlander Hybrid so that I could charge it up with my own electricity and get more like 120 mpg. I think there was an article on Engadget about that, but tell me if I'm wrong.

[David @ Jul 6th 2006 12:10PM]

I'm going to mount one on top of my car, and run a REALLY long extension cord back to my apartment.

[SM @ Jul 6th 2006 1:05PM]

Well, let's give these guys a boost:

http://www.aerotecture.com/

Now you can have a low-profile, urban-friendly, bird-friendly, green/solar roof-complimentary, and silent wind turbine. I've seen it in action at an anual Energy Fair located in Amhurst, WI. It works. I'm trying to get a few of these Aeroturbines (aerotecture aeroturbines) into Twin Cities projects.

[loikll @ Jul 6th 2006 3:05PM]

For times when it's not windy, what you do is you attach it to a steam engine attached to a furnace, and build a little coal shed. You shovel a few hundred pounds of coal into that furnace and the steam keeps that baby spinning for hours.

The neighbors keep calling the cops about the coal smoke, but I think they're just sore because when I built this forty foot windmill the neighborhood property values got real cheap, plus some of the neighbor cats have disappeared.

[James @ Jul 6th 2006 7:38PM]

We just setup one in our place in Nova Scotia. A few things...

"At around $8,500 including installation of the 35-foot-tower, the Skystream supposedly pays for itself within four to twelve years"

The tower is just part of the cost, you are also going to need some sort of storage mechanism (bank of batteries or flywheels or something), inverter, etc. But if you are in an area where bringing power lines in is not ideal, its probably worth it.

We actually generate more power than we can use, for which our excess goes into heating the hot-tub. Previously we had a generate that would turn on automatically to charge the batteries, which is still there, just in case.

Noise is not an issue.

And no birds yet.

[Adamu Abdul Muhammed @ Sep 12th 2006 8:41AM]

Dear Sir,
I got to know about this power product during my internet search. I want to state that your company is doing a great job interms of electricity bill reduction. I am a Nigeria and i would like to discuss more on this products if additional information is release to me. In my Country we are realy facing power shortage and as such i strongly beleive that this products will do well in Nigerian Market. I will appreciate your quick response.

Thanks

[Ajith kumar @ Sep 15th 2006 1:55AM]

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[Ajith kumar @ Sep 15th 2006 2:04AM]

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[Midge @ Feb 25th 2007 2:35PM]

Chopped birds? Noise? Are you kidding? We have a few dozen just to the south of us here in Buffalo and are installing a few dozen more on the old Bethlehem steel site... no dead birds and they are completely silent, that's right, silent. Not to mention very elegant compared to the stinking filth that's ususally pumped into our atmosphere. I don't understand the problem. The average sailboat generates more noise than one of these things. I want one. Or two. Or ten. And disconnect me from that stupid grid!

[Bryant Semenza @ Dec 1st 2007 5:27PM]

Would this system power a small farm and does snow effect the operations?

[Eugene @ Jan 20th 2008 6:30PM]

Nuclear is the way to go , We are so far behind other countries now at this since we abandoned it , it is pitiful.

[Ashley Holmes @ Feb 27th 2008 11:15AM]

My husband and I have one of these windmills and it's no louder than a vacuum cleaner. We live right by the ocean on a hill, so it is very windy. We also had a hgh electric bill because we have 2 electric kilns. For us it is perfect. It gets the power company out of our pocket. Nuclear is not the way to go because of nuclear waste and no one wants a power plant in their back yard. I don't mind having a windmill in my back yard.

[ajriley07 @ Mar 24th 2008 3:35AM]

Why don't electric companies install windmills to generate power for towns instead of those big power plants that cost every tax payers tons of money every month. Electric companies can maintain the windmills just like they do those power plants to keep the power going. Why do we need a windmill in everyones yard if a couple of big windmills can power whole or half a town. What is the difference in noise from those power plants and the windmills?

[Venus @ Jun 6th 2008 9:22PM]

My husband and I are considering a windmill for our home in the country , with the price of oil $4.29 a gal we are considering converting our home to electric and purchasing one. We figure in 2 maybe 3 years it would be paid for. It seems windy here most days while in the town there may not be even the slighest breeze How di you know if it will produce enough energy to power our home?