Why is the idea of a windmill (or three) on every house so derided?

Question

Could someone please explain why, even if each one only produces a small amount of energy individually, that would not amount to a constructive amount nationally. Wouldn't economies of scale and government subsidy reduce the costs to affordable? Aren't there a lot of people like me out there who would take a small hit financially, in not getting any returns in a reduction in the electricity bill for many years, in order to do something constructive about emissions?

Answer 1

http://www.greenpeace.org.uk/media/repor...

great idea, being put down by gov. because it would put a deal of energy production out of their direct control.

what would make a big difference would be a 'feed in tarrif' like they have in Germany, there has been talk for a couple of years but they ase stalling.

as for windmills, they generally pay back the energy cost of production withing 2 years if working 25% of the time or more, which is in most open places in the u.k.

rooftop turbines; vertical axis is not ideal for this, causing vibration of the supports and thus the house structure. a horizontal axis turbine aligned along the roof ridge would be better, with sideways stresses removed, and it would catch the updraught caused by the roof itself. some urban roofs are not really suitable for a turbine anyway because of surrounding buildings, you have to do proper tests with anenometer over a year ideally if you are serious.

doh! having trouble with my orientations.....imagine a drum shape, with the blades inside, rotating around a horizontal axis parallel with the roof ridge that's what i'm on about.

Answer 2

I have heard they shake the house, have you heard about this?  That and they produce so little too.  I would love the idea of a small windmill similar to BENJAMIN WISEMAN JNR: Patented a Windmill in 1783 and use it to power kitchen equipment like a whisk or something simple.

p.s. or better still this laptop.

Answer 3

It sounds great, in theory, doesn't it? In practice, there are difficulties.

Cost. Cost per windmill is more expensive if you are buying one than if you are buying hundreds. When you include repair costs, the payback time may be too long for enticing people to try them. It's not a"small hit".

Noise and visual esthetics

Killing of birds. I understand that this is a big problem in Germany, which relies fairly heavily on wind farms.

Effectiveness. Some places are nicely positioned for generation of wind power. Others aren't. It's like solar power, which would be fine in Mecca but not so great in Seattle. Similarly, wind power would work better in the rural Great Plains, not so well in the forests of Maine or midtown Manhattan.

Answer 4

This is the concept of decentralized power.   Everyone should have their own personal power unit kinda like a personal computer.   At least that's the way I see it in my mind.

I'm not a wind expert but I have seen plans out there for using wind on small scale.  I've seen people assemble solar panels from damaged photovoltaic cells.   Solar heating is much less costly than wind or solar electric.  If you have a biomass resource of grass cuttings or fallen tree limbs, you can make your own co-generator which can provide heat and electric.  If you have a biomass resource you could make your own biomass fuels like (ethanol, methanol, methane, hydrogen, carbon monoxide, carbon as charcoal, and a lot of others).

To get these into a smaller budget you'll have to find components from auctions, junkyards, or wastes from your employer or wastes from you and your neighbors.   Then build the method you want to use.   I personally highly recommend living within your income - do not borrow money for an energy project only get what you can afford.

Learn all you can:   Best book I can recommend for starting on this is, "Sunshine to Dollars" by Steven Harris available through the link on my site to 'Knowledge Publications'.   My site is www.american-renewable-energies.com.

Have a great day!

Answer 5

I am enviormentaly consious but i would never install windmills on my roof, it would look darn stupid.  I am currently in a project, for chaing the plastic bag problem.   If or once done i will, campaign to get a new building regulation that all new homes must be equipped with solar panels, not windmills, solar panels look far better and they are just as useful, especially if it were passed in the US, such as calafoina, florida ect as it would produce more energy than a house would need.

Answer 6

I would love to have a windmill of some sort on my property. I live on a hill and the wind gets quite strong at times.

The problem is that people will always find a reason not to do something rather than a reason to DO something. Windmills are too ugly/noisy/dangerous/expensive, will chew birds up etc. etc. but there is an alternative that may pass muster and still harnesses the power of the wind. Think guitar string.(I think, I am no scientist!)..

http://www.wipo.int/pctdb/en/wo.jsp?IA=U...

I would rather  a thousand windmills surrounding my house than one nuclear power station.

http://blogs.newamericamedia.org/kitchen...

Answer 7

It is very commendable that you have such a concern for the environment, but most people look at the cost of installing such things and realise that the cost is prohibative for the amount of benefit obtained....so dont bother.

Answer 8

Helen is quite right, the small turbines make less or about the same amount of energy that was used to make them. After the cost and effort of maintenance they might make a negative contribution over their useful life time. Theoretically the turbine could generate 10 -25 % of the house needs, but in reality it generates less because there is only going to be perfect wind conditions occasionally.

Only when large wind farms are built will you see any real benefits. Unfortunately so many groups have conflicting ideas about what should be don to combat climate change that nothing is really getting sorted. For example plans for a large wind farm in Scotland where recently scrapped because it might endanger 1 species of rare bird. Sadly most sites for wind farms are important to one species or another and ignoring the possible locations for wind farms will mean that the entire climate changes and that habitat is destroyed anyway.

It might seem like a strange idea, but nuclear power is probably the best way to go at the moment. Nuclear power got a bad name years ago when it was still an experimental technology and was then linked to nuclear weapons. In reality, nuclear power is now one of the safest options, several countries use it to generate most of their power without any real polution or bad effects (infact I think some places farm shrimp near their hot water outlets). Even the co-founder of greenpeace supports nuclear energy as a way forward and states that people who fight against it are using it unfairly as a publicity tool.

Answer 9

Great question. You are DEFINITELY on the correct track.

Wind machines fitted onto each home / office / hospital / school used in conjunction with powerful solar cells

is perfectly feasible / do-able -

research in the 1960's = even in cold snow enough electricity was generated -

BUT investment in renewables tiny...

wrong people in charge -

too much muddled thinking / wrong priorities.

Equipment could be supplied by existing power companies - there's plenty of profit in that - low'ish cost to install recouped within a year - huge savings thereafter + CLEAN energy =

No POLLUTION.

Unsightly? We shouldn't have cutting edge propellers  sticking-up! We need flat (shaped paddles), encased

(so no problems with birds...)

Vibrations shake building to bits? Nay. Nor do we need the paddles to made of heavy chunks of metal!

Why is this derided? My guess is that people don't want to change - they'd rather stick with paying excessive bills whilst super-powers threaten our security and this beautiful planet.

In other words, the cynics have it?

H'mm. Wonder for how much longer this unhappy state will be allowed to carry on?

Edit:

re: Vibrations: Jet engines don't rattle planes to bits. We just need the correct design.

re: Energy to make: True commercially-made HUGE wind turbines use more energy to make than is produced (cost also HUGE). Alternatively, we could use silicon / bio-resin to make ~ produced by self-sustaining, local communities...

Answer 10

Even big wind turbines do not actually create that much energy. The small ones produce very little, so the energy used to produce them may be more than they ever create themselves. I think you're right though, it would be great if everyone could produce a small amount of energy individually. Solar panels create more energy, and the energy can be used directly to heat water for showers etc. It is expensive to install them though so most people don't want to. They are much cheaper to build into new houses than to add to old ones, so I think it should be a regulation that all new houses have solar panels. Other good ways of saving energy in the home are things like double glazing and cavity wall insulation, although these things are less glamarous, they can actually save a lot more energy than installing wind turbines/solar panels.

Answer 11

Why not go one further, rebuild your roof to make a flatish area to grow a garden gives you bio mass for either eating or fuel conversion, it insulates the house against both cold and heat, adds thermal mass to even temperature fluctuation and would be a nice place to be. Then add your windmill if you have the wind in your area, add solar thermal panels (hot air or hot water) Bought a SS 300L tank, 3 panels all for less than US$1000, installed it myself. Add solar voltaic panels and you have a damm good start. Put all bio wastes from the house into a digester will produce at least 70% of your cooking gas needs with the rooftop garden could even be a surplus! The biomass created by the total of all suburban house roof top gardens if they became the norm would rival growing several forests! Big carbon offset!

We just need to think laterally, we do not need to give up luxuries just stupidities. If we are willing to be creative and use a multiplicity of ideas we can reduce GW to a minimum and enjoy a better lifesyle.

For cheap home made low impact windmills try spring tethered sail cloth on a light alloy frame, not the most efficient but works fine is self adjusting costs very little to make in terms of money and energy and is low maintenance.

Answer 12

The basic answer to your question is that people do not like sudden or big changes. Like getting your hair cut. No one noticed it growing long, but the cut is sudden and dramatic.  As for how 'little' power they put out. If its so little how come a number of farmers in Co. Tyrone are putting them up and running their farms from them AND putting power back into the grid? I'm not talking about huge machines either, smaller than those on wind farms. Sooner or later I think we'll have to put up with seeing more of them about and get used to them.