Windmills!

[oakranger]

I'm curious, how many birds are in Holland? Been windmills there for centuries.

I see those go by my house almost daily. They are building a huge windfarm about 30 miles from here. The boxes are the generator. It measures 15 ft tall, 10 feet wide and 30 feet long. The blades are 90 feet long.

Well, the windfarms where alot smaller.  But, if you want to really know why these huge windfarms are such a problem with wildlife, i can send you to this web site. 
     "Though birdkills at lighthouses had been noted for centuries, it is unlikely that anyone anticipated the often large number of songbirds that would be killed at tall TV towers which were lighted at night for aviation safety. People began documenting bird kills at tall communications towers in North America during the late 1940s - such towers were then being constructed on the continent to broadcast the emerging television medium. As happens with lighthouses, on foggy or low cloud- ceiling nights, migrating birds seem to be attracted to the lights on the towers, mill about them for lack of stronger navigational cues, and became apparently disoriented. Mortality at these towers was chiefly attributed to collisions with the guy wires used to support the towers. Though tragic, large kills appeared to be relatively rare, up to and including the 1980s and 1990s, and there was little evidence that anyone thought songbirds were declining as a result of collisions with towers - the birds seemed abundant. Nonetheless, the kills were appalling to bird lovers and towerkill studies began at a number of tall towers across the continent. Most ornithologists and a small portion of the public became aware of the periodic bird kills. A decline in the number of towerkill studies and diminished attention to the issue occurred during the 1980s and 1990s. Now, with the recent erection of thousands of new, even taller towers, the potential for increased avian mortality has again brought this matter to the forefront."   -Al Manville, Ph.D.
Office of Migratory Bird Management
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

Even though we are talking about wind Towers, it is the same concept of them circling around the light but hitting the blades.  During my college years, I was on a research team studying tower kills.  In one night at a 150ft tower, we found 42 individuals that where kill by the tower.  In the last five years, biologists are seeing a huge kill on bats from wind towers.

http://www.wvmcre.org/neg_imapcts/turbineskillbats.htm
http://www.sciencentral.com/video/2008/08/25/wind-turbines-causing-dark-nights-for-bats/

 

[Angus]

Coal: Non renewable.
Natural gas (pumped out): Same, (just not the same co2 factor.)
That's 69%.
And energy, as petroleum, is mostly used for transport etc. An alternative source such as wind must be a good thing for a country.
However, I always feel those big ones as butt ugly. Living in a country with lots of wind, Im still looking for a 5-10 KW wind generator for the household.
Anyone???

[WilldCrd]

if you find one let me know angus. i lil wind turbine in the back yard would really spruce up the ol' neighborhood 
considering my electric bill over the summer    i could care less what the neighbors think tho

[Holden McGroin]

T Boone is selling windmills, follow the money.

T Boone is buying windmills.

[Angus]

if you find one let me know angus. i lil wind turbine in the back yard would really spruce up the ol' neighborhood 
considering my electric bill over the summer    i could care less what the neighbors think tho

Depends on your summer wind. 5KW may need quite a prop in your place, while in my windy place...not

[Holden McGroin]

I'm still looking for a 5-10 KW wind generator for the household.
Anyone???

What the hell are you using all that energy for?  Grow lights in the basement?

1500 watts sould be plenty enough for a typical household electrical load.

Unless you are not geothermal.

[DieAz]

Coal: Non renewable.
Natural gas (pumped out): Same, (just not the same co2 factor.)
That's 69%.
And energy, as petroleum, is mostly used for transport etc. An alternative source such as wind must be a good thing for a country.
However, I always feel those big ones as butt ugly. Living in a country with lots of wind, Im still looking for a 5-10 KW wind generator for the household.
Anyone???

http://www.windenergy.com/products/products.htm

you can buy several and hook them up to provide your required KW. (plus side if one happens to fail you'll still have power from others)

http://www.windenergy.com/documents/spec_sheets/3-CMLT-1341-01_all_product_spec.pdf
one provides over 500 KWh/month @ 12 mph (5.4 m/s)

[Angus]

What the hell are you using all that energy for?  Grow lights in the basement?

1500 watts sould be plenty enough for a typical household electrical load.

Unless you are not geothermal.

Ahemm.
I know you are well in on power usage, but it's a bit simple to state things like that knowing none of the factors involved.

1500 watts is enough to warm 3 bedrooms, and that's it (minimum, radiators are from 500 to 1500 W). Well we do get a good gale and minus 20 degs celcius at times. Average outside temp in the winter is...cold.
4 kw for cooking....when you're at it.
The water heater takes 1.5 KW. Like a shower warmer than 4 degs celcius?
In my case (7 rooms + living quarters+ boiler) some 5-10 KW would be just fine, and that would mean everything but the boiler and radiators running on the local powergrid.
A friend of mine had a 30 KW water turbine in his creek. He would still have trouble with fluctuations, - turn on some power (Like cooking big-time) and your lightbulbs pop.
I have the wiring seperate, so that the radiators can be on a seperate part, - this was intended from the start!
(7x1000 = 7 KW, then the 1.5 for the boiler... = 8,5)....
BTW, On the grid I was cruising on the total of 9 as an average.
5-10, sounds good

[Angus]

This one looks allright!
http://www.windenergy.com/products/whisper_500.htm

At a good gale, 3 KW. That's a start.
I have a silo here that stands some 36 feet high. so there are possibilities....

[Bronk]

Angus
http://www.helixwind.com/en/product.php#s594specs

[Coog03]

Wow those are freaking huge!

[Angus]

Bronk:
TY, that one really looks interesting. No advanced mechanism, I bet the brake is hydraulic. Been looking for those for a while. TY again 

[Holden McGroin]

Hey Angus, that's why I added the "unless you are not geothermal.

I know virtually all Rekevjlrskik (sp) is geo heat, I thought maybe you might be close enough to the capital to be on the loop, or as it is here in Klamath, maybe you dropped a well to get some hydrothermal to heat your home.

If you can get some hot water, it's a wonderful way to heat.

I am designing a system for a couple in town to run a refrigerant-134A system that should come out at something like 1 kw that will electrify their home, and the waste heat either heats their hoome or runs to a loop of pipe under their back lawn and through their greenhouse to condense the r-134A to pump it back to the boiler/turbine.

The engine/generator, and heat exchangers fit in a 1 cubic meter volume.   

[MoeRon]

here is what happens when the braking system fails...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2hTiNiQtPjM

[Wolfala]

here is what happens when the braking system fails...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2hTiNiQtPjM

Guess that feathering mechanism is really important. Golly-geen - if I saw that prop running away, I'd be running so diddlying fast.