"I lost my first planning application because a neighbour was worried about the turbine killing her cat," said Donnachadh McCarthy.
Must be a pun there somewhere. But I have scratched my head and still can't think of one.
Purring or whirring it all amounts to the same... Hot air!
Same as all new technologies, early adopters of mass-market green technology are disappointed by excessive claims for over-hyped products, leading to consumer disillusionment.
Some time later 2nd generation products come along with better specs & prices and more realistic marketing, but have to battle hard against wary consumers.
Yeeesss..... although this one is going to have a very long way to go before those two aspects come together.
Agreed, it won't be domestic wind turbines in urban areas. It won't be solar-electric panels until significant increases in power generation and decreases in price. It might be strirling engine gas boilers once the price gap to conventional gas boilers narrows:
I think the uptake will depend on the same things that held back newbies from the internet and computers generally:
Need and compatibility = use.
Wouldn't an array of propellers such as might be reclaimed from old cars etc, knock down the price of a gennie? It's the prop that costs the most in a set up isn't it? I can't see that anything else in one is all that expensive.
Whilst a substantial number are planning a trip to a scrapyard; surely a generator from a car or lorry would be easy enough to bodge together?
**** How can a wind strain a chimney?He also finds his house vibrates slightly when the turbine is in operation. It is a common problem. According to Nick Martin, an expert on green building techniques, the lateral thrust of turbines in high winds would be enough to topple a Victorian chimney stack.
The same wind would act against the chimney anyway wouldn't it? If the turbine brings the chimney down then it is due to poor installation and maintainance.
I'd have thought the extra leverage and surface area of a turbine on any sort of mast would increase the forces considerably.
In article , Steven Briggs writes
my wind turbine refitted, it?s produced 1.3
"Among those installing turbines are the celebrity chefs Jamie Oliver, who has applied for permission for a rooftop turbine on Fifteen, his restaurant in Newquay, Cornwall, and Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, who has been more ambitious in commissioning a six-kilowatt, 11-metre freestanding turbine to power his new cookery school at his Devon farm."
Not a betting man but I'll give odds that neither will provide enough power to keep the kitchen extractors going . . . .
Says it all....
In message , Andy Hall writes
Indeed, and no amount of technology can suddenly increase the energy density of wind in urban areas.
Nu Laber?
Cameron?
definitely. Calculate the power taken out at a given windspeed, and equate that to a force acting at the turbine hub...winds in excess of
80mph often topple chimneys without gennies onboard.On Sun, 12 Nov 2006 12:22:08 GMT someone who may be fred wrote this:-
I think you would lose that bet, though it depends on the rated output of Mr Oliver's turbine and where it is sited. Mr Fearnley-Whittingstall's turbine will undoubtedly keep them going much of the time, assuming he has researched wind conditions properly.
Nothing in the article surprised me, or cast doubt on the value of such turbines as part of a low carbon electricity system.
They might do but the laws of physics and nature don't change. For a wind generator to be reasonably small and produce significant electricity needs wind...
There's one born every minute....
It's a bugger that, isn't it.......?
At a reasonable - say 1/2 B&Q's price or so - and for a few very selected sites, they may well be a very worthwhile investment. For 90% of sites bolted to the sides of houses - probably not.
On Sun, 12 Nov 2006 16:00:42 +0000 someone who may be Andy Hall wrote this:-
It's always reassuring when the best someone can come up with is a personal attack.
Which turbines? The 1kW B&Q chimney model or Mr Fearnley-Whittingstall freestanding 6kW one?
"Donnachadh McCarthy, who finally installed one on the roof of his south London terraced home in October 2005. His experience has not, however, been what he hoped for. "In the two months since I had my wind turbine refitted, it's produced 1.3 kilowatt hours."
1.3 units (or about 15p) in 2 months. That gives a payback in 1,666 *years*. What is the expected life of these things again?He would have saved 1.3 units in 32.5hrs use of 20W CFL in place of a 60W tungsten bulb. What a waste of resources.
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