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Wind Turbines
Do you live in New England? Or on the east coast in Florida? How about eastern Tennessee, the middle of Idaho or southern Arizona? If you do, then you might have something in common with the truly lucky. You might have a good wind resource. Most of us have heard by now about wind farms; large locations with multiple gigantic turbines set up in order to generate lots and lots of electricity at a time.
The huge wind turbines out in fields (the ones you can see from 35,000’) have a big pole, and a horizontal axis of rotation. Check out this picture for an idea of just how huge a wind turbine can be.
Wind turbines are fairly simple in concept. The wind power blows, the blades move, electricity is generated. If the wind does not blow… no electricity. Needless to say, these large turbines are placed in areas where there is a historic record of good wind. ‘Tis an urban legend that wind turbines kill massive numbers of birds every year. The truth is far less dramatic. Statistics indicate two birds per year per turbine is the accurate number. Compare that with the 67 million birds killed every year by pesticides and the 39 million killed by housecats – just in Wisconsin. In fact, most birds are perfectly capable of missing the moving blades of big wind turbines.
But what about for the rest of us? Much as we’d all love to have such a piece of modern sculpture in our back yards, it is not feasible.
So much for the wind farm size turbines, what about smaller versions? Not surprisingly, these look very much like the big monsters, but are a lot smaller. There are many small turbines in use all across the US, and the installation of private use wind turbines has grown over the past few years. New systems are amazing for ease of installation and integration with existing electrical systems. But is it right for you? Think about a few things. Do you have lots of wind? Lots of land? A place where you could put a high tower? (Better wind is higher up.) Would anyone object to a tall tower on your property? Would you mind the noise? Thus far, there is no such thing as a silent wind turbine. There are lots of wild ideas out there coming to market. Some might work out, and some will be so much hype. A wind turbine is a fairly serious (though also exciting) project and should be undertaken with care. First – do you have wind? This map shows the average annual wind in the US. Look like an interesting project? Click on the possibilities link to get things going.
Average Annual Wind Speeds
Change your insulation... change your life!
Possibly a bit of an exaggeration, but it does sound good, and is not entirely untrue. Here is a concept which has the highest approval of the Queen. It’s called putting your duct work within the air conditioned/ heated space of the house. The first time the Queen heard this, she imagined unsightly silver ductwork tacked to the ceiling of a room, thereby slightly marring the overall effect of the decorating. In fact, it is a great concept and is attained by other less obtrusive methods. Specifically, by changing the location of the insulation in the attic. Here is how most attics are arranged now.
And here is the basic concept of putting your duct work into the conditioned space of the house.
How is it that the insulation can stay up there when gravity would seem to nudge it in a different direction? Easy… it is sprayed onto the underside of the roof and hardens into place. A general rule of thumb is that the attic will be within 6-8° F of the conditioned space of the house. This method has the added advantage of making it unnecessary to vent the attic. Here is what happens when the insulation changes places: Suddenly the duct work is in a friendly environment. No more blasting cold air through an oven and hoping for the best.
The result? Your Air Conditioning system works less hard, uses less electricity, and your power bills go down!
Yay!
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