Someone else making small domestic turbines

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Someone else making small domestic turbines
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sean
Downsizer Moderator

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 42228
Location: North Devon

Posted: Mon Apr 25, 05 5:20 pm Post subject:
The article suggested that this would generate £300 worth of leccie/year.

Res

Joined: 07 Apr 2005
Posts: 1172
Location: Allotment Shed, Harlow

Posted: Mon Apr 25, 05 6:01 pm Post subject:
I suspect it might tip me shed over though

nathanbriggs

Joined: 23 Mar 2005
Posts: 35
Location: Chester

Posted: Tue May 03, 05 3:51 pm Post subject: Expert - ish

Well I'm a power expert, and turning into a micro wind expert because of my assocition with www.windsave.com

So my standpoint would obviously be YES they are worthwhile, but I can back it up with hard data.

We have our latest generation wind turbine system arriving this week for installation it will be on my weblog here after thursday 5th www.nbriggs.blogspot.com if you are interested.

if you have any questions ask away here or pm me

nathanbriggs

Joined: 23 Mar 2005
Posts: 35
Location: Chester

Posted: Tue May 03, 05 3:52 pm Post subject: Expert - ish

Blue Peter

Joined: 21 Mar 2005
Posts: 2400
Location: Milton Keynes

Posted: Tue May 03, 05 4:16 pm Post subject:
Very interested. So, what sort of hard figures can you supply? Peter.

nathanbriggs

Joined: 23 Mar 2005
Posts: 35
Location: Chester

Posted: Tue May 03, 05 4:39 pm Post subject:

Obviously we have numbers on:
average installation costs (for micro)
average production based on rotor size and wind diagram
Carbon recovery and ROCs (changing daily at the moment with the legislation)
Pay back and ROI
and countless others as pertaining to our own systems and several DIY sites we have investigated.

The problem with all these "initiatives" is that the numbers get inflated until they start to become incredible, hopefully getting them from a source will help!

As a greenie myself I am all for saving energy but I think in the UK that personal wind is one of the best possible paybacks, closely followed by solar heat. The advantage of Micro Wind is that more people have a chance of fitting a pole than building a solar store.

sally_in_wales
Downsizer Moderator

Joined: 06 Mar 2005
Posts: 20809
Location: sunny wales

Posted: Tue May 03, 05 5:45 pm Post subject:
Can you do us an idiots guide? I'm not really all that technically challenged, but I do have problems following the specs on tehse things, and I'd love an 'if you wanna achieve this- look for a model that does such and such' type guide.

tahir

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 45723
Location: Essex

Posted: Tue May 03, 05 7:26 pm Post subject:

nathanbriggs wrote:

I think in the UK that personal wind is one of the best possible paybacks

I've got plenty of that, how do I save and store it?

Seriously though I'd love to see more data on the windsave and also how planning authorities are likely to view them

Nanny

Joined: 17 Feb 2005
Posts: 4520
Location: carms in wales

Posted: Wed May 04, 05 6:55 am Post subject: wind turbines
my husband found this site for anybody thinking seriously www.clear-skies.org/index.aspx looks like grants my be forthcoming ..............

Blue Peter

Joined: 21 Mar 2005
Posts: 2400
Location: Milton Keynes

Posted: Wed May 04, 05 10:19 am Post subject:

nathanbriggs wrote:

I think that lots of people would be interested in those numbers. Will you be putting them in your blog? or can you provide them here?

nathanbriggs wrote:

As a greenie myself I am all for saving energy but I think in the UK that personal wind is one of the best possible paybacks, closely followed by solar heat. The advantage of Micro Wind is that more people have a chance of fitting a pole than building a solar store.

What do you mean by solar store? I thought that you were referring to solar water heating, but do you mean something else?

Peter.

Rikki

Joined: 09 Jun 2005
Posts: 35
Location: Bucks

Posted: Sat Jun 11, 05 9:05 pm Post subject:
It seems to me that wind turbines are only cost effective - both in terms of personal finacial out lay, and in terms of CO2 saved - if you look at really large turbines shared by serveral households such as a village or town. The £1500 roof top ones will take over 30 years to recoup the cost of installation, and have an expected life of ..

tahir

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 45723
Location: Essex

Posted: Sun Jun 12, 05 7:50 am Post subject:

Blue Peter wrote:

What do you mean by solar store? I thought that you were referring to solar water heating, but do you mean something else?

I've been speaking to an architect recently who's designing a passive solar house for someone that uses the loft space as a giant heat exchange unit (water pipes) and the foundations to contain a huge heat store (a large water tank). I think that's the sort of thing he's talking about

Rikki

Joined: 09 Jun 2005
Posts: 35
Location: Bucks

Posted: Tue Jun 14, 05 2:28 pm Post subject:

When I was investigating new hot water cylinders for connecting to my soon-to-be-built solar hot water panel (collector is the proper term) I ended up with a traditional type but much bigger (250 litres) and with two coils. The primary - half way up - is connected to the boiler (sorry, will be connected to the boiler.

It is currently sitting in the middle of the lounge awaiting the summer holidays

) Then at the bottom of the cylinder is a second "eco" coil that connects to the solar collector (that's panel to us downsizers

).

BUT there are other types available, called thermal stores. In these the coil is right at the top and connects to the mains cold water feed (so no cold cistern in the loft) and the body of the tank connects to the boiler. The stored hot water heats the water flowing through the coil when a tap is turned on, but can also be used to flow through the radiators. I toyed with this as a way of using solar energy to heat the house as well as the domestic hot water, but couldn't see how to include the solar collector in the scheme of things.

dougal

Joined: 15 Jan 2005
Posts: 7184
Location: South Kent

Posted: Tue Jun 14, 05 8:01 pm Post subject:

Rikki wrote:

I ... couldn't see how to include the solar collector in the scheme of things.

Just as with ordinary hot water tanks, there are different types of thermal stores and heat banks.
You can find them equipped with additional coils to which solar collectors, wood-fired back-boilers, etc can be connected. They are a splendid way of integrating multiple heat sources. And allowing boilers to run for long periods at maximum efficiency.
But with a DIY collector, you aren't going to be gathering worthwhile, useful or even significant quantities of heat during the central heating season... no way are you going to have a surplus of heat beyond your hot water requirement! And unless you have underfloor heating, central heating requires that the heat be available at a high *temperature*...

Rikki

Joined: 09 Jun 2005
Posts: 35
Location: Bucks

Posted: Wed Jun 15, 05 1:00 pm Post subject:
That's why I'm still using a trad. cylinder set up - I want the satisfaction of building it myself though I accept that the true ecologist would want something more useful. Do you have a functioning system yourself?

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