Would you stick a windmill on top of your house?

[Queasy]

From Clark Howard's Show Notes

In Holland, for instance, they are experimenting with windmill-powered electricity. Residents are placing tiny windmills or turbines on top of their homes that supply all power to your home. They weigh about 500 pounds and they cost between $5,000 and $12,000. So, depending on the size of your home, they pay for themselves in a matter of years.

 

[Mr.IncrediblyBored]

I'd have to do some research first. My neighborhood has a lot of trees that may block a legitimate percentage wind.

 

[squirrel dog]

No I would not,if I ever wanted to sell it later on down the road.Fuel cell generators should be here in 10 years or less.The power company will sell or lease you one.I saw the white paper at a local trade meeting.Size of a 5 ton central a/c unit.Sits outside your home,produces electric power has no moving parts,and has water vapor as the exhaust.Lasts 5-7 years,then someone comes out and replaces the catalist.

 

[Jzero]

Nah. I put too much effort into the nuclear-reactor-in-a-garbage-can that is in my basement.

 

[BD231]

500pounds?, hell no. I wouldn't trust my roof to hold that much weight.

 

[Mr.IncrediblyBored]

Originally posted by: squirrel dog
No I would not,if I ever wanted to sell it later on down the road.Fuel cell generators should be here in 10 years or less.The power company will sell or lease you one.I saw the white paper at a local trade meeting.Size of a 5 ton central a/c unit.Sits outside your home,produces electric power has no moving parts,and has water vapor as the exhaust.Lasts 5-7 years,then someone comes out and replaces the catalist.

Fuel cells require hydrogen to produce electricity. And this hydrogen must come from some place, either directly from a refinery or from your own reformer. A reformer extracts hydrogen from fossil fuels like methane or gasoline.

To think you're just gonna slap an A/C-sized unit to your house and have it produce electricity is just a bit naive.

 

[charrison]

To many trees in my neighborhood for a windmill to be effective.

 

[charrison]

Originally posted by: KnightBreed

Originally posted by: squirrel dog
No I would not,if I ever wanted to sell it later on down the road.Fuel cell generators should be here in 10 years or less.The power company will sell or lease you one.I saw the white paper at a local trade meeting.Size of a 5 ton central a/c unit.Sits outside your home,produces electric power has no moving parts,and has water vapor as the exhaust.Lasts 5-7 years,then someone comes out and replaces the catalist.

Fuel cells require hydrogen to produce the electricity. It doesn't come for "free." The hydrogen must come from some place, either directly from a refinery or from a personal reformer (extracts hydrogen from fossil fuels like methane or gasoline).

To think you're just gonna slap an A/C-sized unit to your house and have it produce electricity is just a bit neive.

Actually they will likely run off natural gas and such a model already exists. They are just bloody expensive.

 

[BooneRebel]

No, I wouldn't put a windmill *on my house*. I'd think the vibration/noise alone would be very annoying. But I wouldn't have a problem with putting one on a pole in a clearing somewhere on the property, especially if I was in a high-wind area such that it could support the existing electricity load.

 

[amdskip]

We live in a predominately Dutch down with an authentic dutch windmill so I could very well see it happening here. I'd rather power my lan off the power my dad makes at the nuke plant though

 

[Mr.IncrediblyBored]

Originally posted by: charrison

Originally posted by: KnightBreed

Originally posted by: squirrel dog
No I would not,if I ever wanted to sell it later on down the road.Fuel cell generators should be here in 10 years or less.The power company will sell or lease you one.I saw the white paper at a local trade meeting.Size of a 5 ton central a/c unit.Sits outside your home,produces electric power has no moving parts,and has water vapor as the exhaust.Lasts 5-7 years,then someone comes out and replaces the catalist.

Fuel cells require hydrogen to produce the electricity. It doesn't come for "free." The hydrogen must come from some place, either directly from a refinery or from a personal reformer (extracts hydrogen from fossil fuels like methane or gasoline).

To think you're just gonna slap an A/C-sized unit to your house and have it produce electricity is just a bit neive.

Actually they will likely run off natural gas and such a model already exists. They are just bloody expensive.

Are you correcting me? This is exactly what I said. squirrel dog was implying the electricity would be produced by a "catalist" that is replaced every 5 years. I said, these fuel cell generators need hydrogen to produce the electricity.

Why do you think current models on the market use propane? What element is most abundant in a hydrocarbon?

 

[RossMAN]

Yes but my major issue is with SAFETY. 500 pounds is a lot of weight to put on a roof, on top of the roofing materials themselves, weather elements (rain, ice, snow, wind, you name it) and the turbines are probably small but they might fly off and go into the neighbors house, who knows what could happen.

If my safety concerns were addressed, I would consider it.

Then I could have heat on 24/7 during winter, a/c on 24/7 during summer and 20 PC's humming along 24/7. Heck with 20 PC's who needs heat?

 

[ragazzo]

solar panels + http://www.smmpa.org/athome/images/windmill.jpg

 

[Queasy]

I wonder if this would bring out the enviro-crazies because of all the dead birds?

On a side note: Anybody hear the story about the windmill farm they are wanting to build out around Nantucket/Martha's Vineyard? Guess who is against it...some of the biggest liberals/enviros such as Ted Kennedy. Why are they against it? Because it "blocks their view".

Edit: Should have mentioned the windmill farm is supposed to be fairly far out in the water on a small island (at least that's what I recall).

 

[charrison]

GE Natural gas power Home Fuel cell

They sustain about 5kw load with a peak of around 15kw for short periods of time. I cant seem to find that info however.

 

[308nato]

No.


And Ted Kennedy himself blocks the view more than any windmill.

 

[Queasy]

Originally posted by: charrison
GE Natural gas power Home Fuel cell

They sustain about 5kw load with a peak of around 15kw for short periods of time. I cant seem to find that info however.

Cool. These would definitely take a load off of power grids...especially in California.

 

[Mr.IncrediblyBored]

Originally posted by: charrison
GE Natural gas power Home Fuel cell

They sustain about 5kw load with a peak of around 15kw for short periods of time. I cant seem to find that info however.

Cool to see power companies actively R&D fuel cell technology.

To those curious how a fuel cell works: Howstuffworks "How Fuel Cells Work"

 

[Zebo]

I've looked at things like this windmill and solar, solar tiles on the roof. Basically it cost about triple the power company cost over a 15 year period because batteries need to be replaced at least once costing ~$6000 plus normal maitence. Good for the enviroment though, and I suppose if you lived in BFE it would be worth it.

 

[Mr.IncrediblyBored]

Originally posted by: Carbonyl
I've looked at things like this windmill and solar, solar tiles on the roof. Basically it cost about triple the power company cost over a 15 year period because batteries need to be replaced at least once costing ~$6000 plus normal maitence. Good for the enviroment though, and I suppose if you lived in BFE it would be worth it.

Triple? Some people spend $100+ a month for power. Over 15 years, that's $18,000. I find it hard to believe the unit + maintenance costs + batteries costs $54,000.

Edit: What's the MTBF of the power cells in a solar panel? Perhaps I'm underestimating the maintenance costs of such a setup, but triple the average power company bill? Good grief, no wonder the technology hasn't taken off.

 

[Zebo]

Originally posted by: KnightBreed

Originally posted by: Carbonyl
I've looked at things like this windmill and solar, solar tiles on the roof. Basically it cost about triple the power company cost over a 15 year period because batteries need to be replaced at least once costing ~$6000 plus normal maitence. Good for the enviroment though, and I suppose if you lived in BFE it would be worth it.

Triple? Some people spend $100+ a month for power. Over 15 years, that's $18,000. I find it hard to believe the unit + maintenance costs + batteries costs $54,000.

You can't turn the 15-18K intial investment into 50K in 15 years ?

 

[Mr.IncrediblyBored]

Originally posted by: Carbonyl

Originally posted by: KnightBreed

Originally posted by: Carbonyl
I've looked at things like this windmill and solar, solar tiles on the roof. Basically it cost about triple the power company cost over a 15 year period because batteries need to be replaced at least once costing ~$6000 plus normal maitence. Good for the enviroment though, and I suppose if you lived in BFE it would be worth it.

Triple? Some people spend $100+ a month for power. Over 15 years, that's $18,000. I find it hard to believe the unit + maintenance costs + batteries costs $54,000.

You can't turn the 15-18K intial investment into 50K in 15 years ?

15-18K? Is that what a solar panel for home power costs? :Q

 

[Zebo]

Solar-The unit we needed to produce 22Kwhd was $37,500!! But I used queseys example plus battery cost which is less..

Of course you can get a homeloan for it.

 

[Queasy]

Originally posted by: Carbonyl
Solar-The unit we needed to produce 22Kwhd was $37,500!! But I used queseys example plus battery cost which is less..

Of course you can get a homeloan for it.

Do you get any kind of tax deductions for using environmentally friendly power sources like solar panels?

 

[Zebo]

Originally posted by: Queasy

Originally posted by: Carbonyl
Solar-The unit we needed to produce 22Kwhd was $37,500!! But I used queseys example plus battery cost which is less..

Of course you can get a homeloan for it.

Do you get any kind of tax deductions for using environmentally friendly power sources like solar panels?

I did'nt even bother to check with loosing numbers like that. It basically caame down to addeding $350 a month on the mortgage or just paying $130 for electric company power. The banks rate counts as a second mortgage so figure in the 9-11% range.

Very good article on all forms of renewable energy, tax breaks, and costs