About a month ago I spotted one of these being fitted to a house just around the corner.
Guys fitting it had a brand new van, brand new access tower, brand new hi vis clothing. Looked like they had just equipped themselves from scratch.
Same guys came back last week & removed it.
I wonder if it's because they are having problems with them? I keep hoping to spot the house owner so I can ask.
It's probably been too windy...
The Medway Handyman pretended :
Not worth the investment, if you were considering one, nor are they green if you do the sums.
The house occupants were too old for that sort of vibrator.
On Sat, 20 Jan 2007 10:25:30 GMT someone who may be Harry Bloomfield wrote this:-
Certainly a long term financial investment, but that does not mean that there are not reasons to install one in the right circumstances. The same can be said of replacing single glazing with double glazing.
People produce figures to "support" all such claims. However, that does not mean that the figures are correct.
Certainly not a long term financial investment. If you google for figures from the people that have recorded their total output, you'll see theyre more total loss than investment. If anyone were getting payback then their good figures would get published as well.
If you do the sums regarding windspeeds in populated areas, again same deal. These things are a sad misapplication of technology that makes a workable fringe technology look terrible.
NT
Wrong sort of wind...
Owain
It _may_ be a realistic financial investment - for those off grid, in windy areas.
If you're paying the equivalent of say 50p/Kwh from a generator + battery bank.
For a house on a windy hilltop, with no trees round it, it may even break even if there is mains electricity.
(neglecting the fact that cheaper more effective turbines can be had)
Your average house, well, no.
I'm willing to bet spending the same money on near any house on extra insulation would conserve more energy than one of those will generate.
Double glazing cuts down noise - not makes it.
More correctly, the figures produced to advertise such devices are
*always* a con.
People produce figures to "support" claims that "wind turbines" are green. However, that does not mean that the figures are correct.
On Sat, 20 Jan 2007 13:35:10 +0000 (GMT) someone who may be "Dave Plowman (News)" wrote this:-
Nowhere will you find anyone with an understanding of sustainability urging people to rush out and buy a house mounted wind turbine as the first thing they do. That is just a straw man put up by some.
Some party politicians may urge people to rush out and buy such a turbine first, but they can defend themselves.
It would be interesting to know the (environmental) cost of producing these windmills...
ROTFL. Like a 999 year lease?
It *can* be. Whether it's true or not is another matter.
In any direction...
How does a turbine defend itself? Do the toy windmill blades have sharp edges? They would need to be going round first of course....
£5 in Shanghai and a contribution to this week's coal fired power station.
On Sat, 20 Jan 2007 14:37:27 +0000 someone who may be Frank Erskine wrote this:-
Similar points were once made about large wind turbines (and the uninformed still make them from time to time). However, large wind turbines show a net carbon dioxide saving after a few months.
Smaller wind turbines will take longer to show a net carbon dioxide saving, but I would be surprised if it was more then a couple of years.
That's the problem, their site surveys say great, lets sell you one, even when payback for 99% of the population is never going to occur. Its the package thats bad rather than windgen technology, unfortunately the public will interpret it that windgens are no good.
NT
You mean that the survey's are not completely honest?
.. and in the framework in which they are being attempted to be sold, they would be right.
If one were to bring this to reality; the customers would only be eco-activists or Lottery season ticket holders.
The market for that is too small, so the get rich quick merchants have to go for the gullible and vulnerable.
Does QVC sell these? Are operators standing by?
If you strap in on your car and drive up and down the street outside at
60 mph it works great - you need a long extention lead though.
But that's the way the majority perceive it. Doing something 'active' rather than passive like insulation. Something to show - and show your neighbours - for the money.
No political party has even scratched the surface with ideas about saving energy.
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