Plant wind turbines in my yard!

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Permalink Reply by Tracy Juengst on September 22, 2008 at 5:04pm

I don't disagree with you Dean. I have no problem with trash to energy converters except the people who put batteries in the trash and having them burn. My site however is supposed to be a list of people who want wind turbines in their yard. But thanks anyway for the words against nukes being the answer. I do think we may need some, I just want it well thought out and not put by water that I plan to swim in and in the middle of faults.

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Permalink Reply by phillip woodard on October 4, 2008 at 6:18pm

I'm new to all of this and am young, 21, but I have a few questions that hopefully this group can answer.
-I live in NW Arkansas the wind is mild most all the time, but there are mountains near by that have more wind on the ridges. Is Arkansas being considered for any wind technology?
-If so my family may be quite interested with the help of the community. Clarksville, Ark
-There are very powerful storms in my area and in a lot of the areas being discussed for wind power, tornado alley. What effect does the common storm have on wind turbines?
-If it is, as I expect, an extreme spike in energy production then can this "spike" damage the whole communities power grid?
I know this is a lot to ask, but I am interested and my family does have the resourses available to made this happen if it is possible in our region.
Note: I'm currently in New Zealand and there are many regions that live off there wind turbines on the mountains here. Its rather common.

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Permalink Reply by Tracy Juengst on October 4, 2008 at 11:03pm

The way to see how much wind you have is to use the Beaufort scale. See http://www.spc.noaa.gov/faq/tornado/beaufort.html for how to tell the wind speed you have.
Average windspeed over the year generally has to be between 5 and 13 m/s. Normally people put up and meter to check wind speed over the year. They average the wind speed over five minutes and do the yearly average with the data from the 5 minute average. The direction of the wind speed is also taken to determine the turbulence and how steady the direction of the wind is. If the wind direction changes too often, as the wind turbine turns, the angle of attack changes on the blade, the blade rotational speed may lower. From the Beaufort scale use the 1/7 power law to determine the wind speed at hub height. The hub height is where the nacelle is or where the blades are attached. The higher you are, the higher the wind speed. You don't have to monitor the wind speed for a year but it can give you a good idea on the cost/benefit analysis you may have to do to get a loan to build the turbine. Arkansas has some projects already, but not very much. See http://www.awea.org/projects/projects.aspx?s=Arkansas
Power Capacity - Existing projects (MW): 0.1
Potential Capacity (in MW): 2460
Bitworks=developer, Washington County, MW capacity=0.1 1unit NEG Micon = type of turbine installed=2003

I can only guess on the effect of tornados and wind turbines since there needs to be more research on the effect of turbines on the upper atmosphere and how that effects the ground level winds. I suspect that more wind turbines put in the plains states will slow the wind across the plain and cut back tornado production the way planting trees would since both extract energy from the wind. If a tornado or hurricane is in the forcast. Most likely the wind turbine is shut off and chained to the ground as has been done in the past. You yaw it out of the wind as well. In that kind of turbulence, you could have a blade nail the tower called a tower strike. Thanks for writing. I am hoping this list will give some possibilities or developers to contact people since I know there is alot of people out there like you.

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Permalink Reply by Sue Gillispie on October 8, 2008 at 6:58am

I think that wind farms would be a great idea for small communities in areas that have wind (like mine- Texas plains). With small towns dying off everywhere in this region it seems that free or almost free engery supply would be a great way to encourage people to return to an area such as this. I have wanted to propose such an action for my town, but find it difficult to find info for grants, etc. to write into such a proposal. Any ideas?

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Permalink Reply by Tracy Juengst on October 8, 2008 at 4:29pm

That is why I set up this list. Please be more specific with either the town or the county where you are from. Or be specific on where in the state so someone from here can contact you if they want of course. Good luck getting grants when the country has no money left. They did vote in some sort of alternate energy package in the bailout bill. I would look at that. Checkout NREL's site, AWEA might have information. There are 3 magazines on wind energy: http://www.homepower.com/home/ , http://www.windpower-monthly.com/ , and a journal called Wind Energy by Wiley http://www.wiley.com/WileyCDA/WileyTitle/productCd-WE.html . The US government used to have an office for request for proposals. Try the Department of Energy site as well. Back in 1990's, if you won a government contract, you only got 50% of the cost paid by the government. This is a significantly harder situation than the space program.

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Permalink Reply by Sue Gillispie on October 10, 2008 at 8:25am

Thanks for the information Tracy. I'm in Haskell County, Texas with lots of wind.

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Permalink Reply by barbara bliss on July 8, 2009 at 11:43am

Sure, I would love to have one in my back yard. Unfortunately, the P.E.Co., is the only business in town (monopoly) and I'm sure would fignt it. We live in Phila., PA. I wouldn't mind being the first!

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