admin answers:

Not charged by the method you describe. There would not be enough trickle charge to provide the charge in any meaningful time period.

But battery narrow boats do exist, its nothing new. There are a few on the Basingstoke and Montomery canals

You need a land line to charge up. Most have a diesel generator as well

Power is not a problem, the battery boats easily match the diesel powered boats for torque and control.

Its charging up every 2 days that will stop any chance of cruising around the system.

You get significant licence reductions for a battery boat.

admin answers:

Living on a boat is not for everyone. It is a lifestyle that can be great fun and very relaxed, but you have to work a little harder to be comfortable. Can you try it for a little while without having to make a committment?

You have to make arrangements for water and to have your holding tank pumped out. Most people go ashore for water – sometimes to a marina dock. In a very few places there is water delivery to boats, but in my experience that is not the norm. I have never seen that happen. When we anchored for longer periods my husband and I often dinghied 5 gallon jugs of water back to our boat on a regular basis – every time we went ashore.

What about power? Do you want to have electricity? If so, you need to think about wind generators or solar panels, depending on where you live. How about refrigeration? That is the biggest consumer of energy on a boat. There are options that use less power, but they tend to be more expensive. Do you want to be able to have a hot water shower on the boat? Is it hot enough where you live to use a solar bag/sun shower to heat your shower water each day or will you need a water heater?

How about cooking? If you have a propane stove, especially a Force 10, two burner with oven, that will be great, and many people also have a BBQ in the cockpit. With propane you should have a propane detector in your cabin and bilge as propane sinks if it is leaking, and could collect in the bottom of your boat and cause an explosion.

If you anchor, you have to dinghy ashore everyday. You may need to lock your dinghy when you go ashore, depending on where you are anchored. Will you have a vehicle on shore? If so, that will make life easier, as you will not have to backpack laundry, groceries, etc. If you are depending on getting ashore by dinghy to get to a job, what about the days when it might be too rough to get the dinghy ashore?

Do you want to have TV and Internet on your boat? We used a cell phone to have Internet access when we were anchored. Sometimes we were fortunate enough to be able to receive an unsecured wireless signal. For TV, you might be able to receive the free channels from you boat if you put an antenna high enough. The reception will of course vary with the movement of the boat.

Depending on your location, you may need to protect all you clothing from humidity and mildew. We rolled all of ours and packaged everything in airtight ziploc bags to keep the moisture out.

Some people who live on boats choose to rent a slip at a marina and then they can have most of the conveniences of a land based home while living on a boat. Not all marinas allow live aboards.

I would live on a boat again in a flash if the opportunity presented itself with the right person. My husband and I enjoyed it immensely and had wonderful adventures. We were happy vagabonds. We were both retired though, so we did not have to worry about getting ashore for work, etc.

So I hope I have given you some food for thought. Most people I know who live on boats and work ashore actually live in a slip at a marina, but I also know a few who anchor and dinghy ashore everyday to a job. Best of luck with you plans. I would do it. Feel free to ask about anything else you think I could help with.

admin answers:

The answer is that the mpg would decrease–probably by a lot. The reason is that the gas engine will have to create the wind to run the wind turbine. So basically you’re going to have an energy conversion losses by converting from gas to wind to electricity. But it will be worse than that because there is also the additional drag of the wind turbine parts.

I don’t know what kind of wind turbine you could use.

Now what would work is to add battery packs to the Prius and have a stationary wind turbine charge these packs. However, because the Prius battery packs are over 200V it’s not a safe thing to do unless you are qualified to work on high voltage equipment. There is also the battery ECU to worry about. Somehow you will need to tell it what you are putting into it.

admin answers:

Hey Kevin, I think people are avoiding answering this because the question is too nebulous, I’ll explain. 25,000 kwh per year, or about 2000 per month is quite a larege number for a residence, are you running a business? Our home uses 300 – 350 per month, a bit below the average for a 2400 square foot single family dwelling. Trying to get answers on this with usage and average wind speed is like me asking you what kind of car should I get, I live about 12 km from work. Any car can get there, but do I need cargo space, winter driving capabilities, do I have kids? And so on. We use a 900 watt Southwest Windpower model H-40, it is probably a bit too small for our home, something on the order of 1500 watts would work better, but we over did the solar array at 1.4kw, and in the end we make about 90% of our electricity, the other part comes from the power company.

Wind turbine output is a function of the cube of the wind speed. If you double the wind speed, you can theoretically get 8 times the power out of the turbine. But then some turbines have ideal design wind speed higher than others, so a lighter wind turbine in heavy winds will actually degrade from its power curve on a good day. Our site has really good wind in the fall and winter, and really good sun in the spring and summer, so solar and wind complement each other here. This is basically true of most places, just getting the turbine might be disappointing in the end. Three bladed units work better in gusty shifting winds, but are less efficient in lighter winds than 2 bladed ones. When you say your average wind speed is 20 mph, is it 20 most the time, or 5 mph for 3 days, then 40 mph on day 4? This makes a big difference in turbine selection.

What I’m really getting at is this isn’t a question for hacks like me online. In the 12 years we have been using solar and wind power, and teaching renewable energy at our local schools, I’ve learned that there are three things in vast supply, sun, wind, and missinformation. There are better ways to get informed on this subject than here, I will list some sources below to start you out. My first suggestion is to get a subscription to Home Power Magazine. They are the only periodical that get into the nuts and bolts of this subject. Then when the first issue arrrives, look in the calendar section for an energy fair near you. We subscribed 13 years ago, and went to the fair in Wisconsin in June that same year. Here we are today. It would be so easy for someone like yourself to buy into a machine that does not work well for your site, but works very well for the installer to make money with, trust me on this.

Check out the sources below, try to make one of the energy fairs, and then you’ll be in a position to ask some really good questions. Good luck Kevin, and take care, Rudydoo

admin answers:

I don’t know of any wind farms in West Australia yet; but there would be good sites for them to the south, exposed to the roaring forties winds. There are several wind farms in South Australia and Victoria, taking advantage of the reliable winds in the Great Australian Bight and Bass Strait.

Or are you referring to Washington State?

admin answers:

Solar Energy

Solar energy is light and heat energy from the sun. Solar cells convert sunlight into electrical energy. Thermal collectors convert sunlight into heat energy. Solar technologies are used in watches, calculators, water pumps, space satellites, for heating water, and supplying clean electricity to the power grid. There is enough solar radiation striking the surface of the earth to provide all of our energy needs.

There are two main ways of using solar energy to produce electricity. These are through the use of solar cells and solar thermal technology. Using solar technologies to generate electricity is, at present, more expensive than using coal-fired power stations, but it produces much less pollution.

Solar cells are photovoltaic cells that turn light into electricity. Solar cells are used in three main ways. They are used in small electrical items, like calculators, and for remote area power supplies, like telephones and space satellites. They are also used on a larger scale to supply electricity through energy authorities such as energex and Ergon.

Solar cells are used to a limited extent in the development of solar-powered vehicles. Solar thermal technology uses heat gained directly from sunlight. The best known use of this technology is in solar water heating. Solar thermal electric generating plants use reflectors to collect heat energy to make steam which drives a turbine that produces electricity.

Australia is in an ideal position to develop and use solar energy. Some areas in central and western Queensland are among the best sites in the world to develop large scale solar electric generating plants.

Wind Energy

Moving air turns the blades of large windmills or generators to make electricity, or to pump water out of the ground. A high wind speed is needed to power wind generators effectively. While wind generators don’t produce any greenhouse gas emissions they may cause vibrations, noise and visual pollution.

While wind-generated electricity does not cause air pollution, it does cost more to produce than electricity generated from coal.

Wind pumps and generators have been used in remote areas of Australia and in other countries around the world for many years. More recently, wind turbo-generators on wind farms have been providing electricity for cities and towns in more than a dozen countries. The United States of America and Denmark produce most of the world’s wind-generated electricity. Australia has some small wind farms. The largest of these is at Esperance in Western Australia.

In Queensland, wind farms operate at Atherton Tablelands and Thursday Island.

A large wind turbo generator needs a minimum annual average windspeed of about 25 km/h. Sites need to be clear of tall vegetation and are often on prominent hills and headlands or in coastal areas. The southern states in Australia are in a good position to use wind generators because of a strong wind called the ‘roaring forties’ that blows across the south of the continent.

Large wind generators can be more than 110 metres tall with blades spanning 130 metres. They can sometimes make a low-frequency sound that cannot be heard by humans, but which can rattle windows. Wind farms can be a danger to migrating birds flying at night and can cause TV and radio interference in nearby homes. Because of their size, some people think wind generators are ugly and spoil the scenery, however in some places they are a tourist attraction.

Tidal/Wave Energy

If a dam or barrage is built across a river mouth or inlet, electricity can be obtained by the flow of water through turbines in the dam as the tide rises and falls. The movement of waves can also drive air turbines to make electricity. Although tidal and wave energy don’t produce pollution, they can cause other environmental problems.

Biomass Energy

Biomass is plant and animal material that can be used for energy. This includes using wood from trees, waste from other plants (for example, bagasse from sugar cane) and manure from livestock. Biomass can be used to generate electricity, light, heat, motion and fuel. Converting biomass energy into useable energy has many environmental benefits. It uses waste materials that are usually dumped, and uses up methane (a greenhouse gas). Fuels such as ethanol can be made from biomass and used as an alternative to petrol to power motor cars.

All plant and animal matter is called biomass. It is the mass of biological matter on earth. We can get (biomass) energy:

Directly from plants, for example burning wood for cooking and heating. O Indirectly from plants, for example turning it into a liquid (alcohol such as ethanol) or gas (biogas) fuel.
Indirectly from animal waste, for example biogas (mainly methane gas) from sewage and manure.
An increasing number of renewable energy projects using biomass has been developed. Most of these use waste products from agriculture, so they solve a waste disposal problem and, at the same time, create energy for use in homes, farms and factories.

Logan City Council collects biogas from a landfill site at Browns Plains, and uses it to generate electricity. Four companies in Ipswich are working together to use energy from landfill biogas. The biogas will be processed and piped to nearby Swanbank Power Station.

Biogas can also be produced from livestock manure and human sewage. Farms where animals graze and sewage plants are ideal places to produce energy from biogas. Waste peelings from food processing plants can also be used to produce biogas.

An example of agricultural waste being used to produce electricity is the recent Mackay Sugar Cooperative Association bagasse project. Bagasse (solid waste from sugar production) from four mills will be processed and used instead of coal to produce electricity.

Hydroelectric Energy

Fast-flowing water released from dams in mountainous areas can turn water turbines to produce electricity. While it doesn’t cause pollution, there are many other environmental impacts to consider. Ecosystems may be destroyed, cultural sites may be flooded and sometimes people need to be resettled. There are also impacts on fish breeding, loss of wildlife habitat and changes in water flow of rivers.

Hydroelectricity is produced from falling water. The movement of the water spins turbines which generate electricity.

Places with high rainfall and steep mountains are ideal for hydroelectricity. Canada, Brazil and New Zealand produce most of their electricity this way. In Australia about 8 per cent of electricity is produced from hydroelectricity. Most of this is from the Snowy Mountains Scheme in New South Wales. Queensland has two hydroelectric power stations in the Barron Gorge and Kareeya in far north Queensland.

Most hydroelectricity projects require the building of large dams on rivers, which can be very expensive. When large dams are built the flow of the dammed river is changed radically and large areas of land are flooded, including wildlife habitats and farming land.

Because of the environmental impact of traditional hydroelectric schemes, there has been increasing interest in alternative hydro schemes. Pumped storage systems can be installed on existing dams. There is a pumped storage hydroelectric power station at Wivenhoe Dam, west of Brisbane.

Run-of-river hydroelectric schemes cause less environmental damage. Large dams do not need to be built, as the run-of-river schemes divert only part of the river through a turbine.

Geothermal Energy

Geothermal energy uses heat energy from beneath the surface of the earth. Some of this heat finds its way to the surface in the form of hot springs or geysers. Other schemes tap the heat energy by pumping water through hot dry rocks several kilometres beneath the earth’s surface. Geothermal energy is used for the generation of electricity and for space and water heating in a small number of countries.

admin answers:

A permanent magnet alternator is good for a windmill. It can produce electricity at low RPM. They are sold on the internet by people that make them for use with home made windmill power generation. There are plans on the internet showing how to make a permanent magnet alternator and how to install permanent magnets in the rotor of an automobile alternator. I don’t know anything about availability in UAE.

An automobile alternator is an AC generator with an internal or external rectifier to provide a DC output. The term “permanent magnet generator” could mean an AC generator or alternator or a DC generator with a commutator. A DC generator with a commutator could be used with a windmill and would work well. Such things are probably not manufactured for sale as generators, but there are many permanent magnet DC motors with commutators made for use in automobiles. They are used for fans and other things. They should be easily available, but may not be as large as you would want.

admin answers:

1. Operation Status of Major Sub-industries

1.1 Power Station Equipment

In the first five months of 2007, China’s generator and generator set market and hydraulic turbine and auxiliary equipment market both showed rapid growth with sales revenues increasing by 38.97% and 62.40% and total profit increasing by 82.10% and 287.14% respectively. Meanwhile, boiler and boiler auxiliary equipment market and steam turbine and its auxiliary equipment market showed slow increases, with sales revenues increasing by 12.93% and 12.96%, and total profit increasing by 10.67% and 2.18%. The Gross Profit Margin of China’s power equipment manufacturing industry maintained a steady growth with that of the boiler and hydraulic turbine, increasing by 6.32 and 5.72 percentage points respectively, with generator and steam turbine remaining at the same level as that in the same period a year ago.

Currently, thermal power accounted for too large a proportion in China’s power structure. To change the current structure, NDRC of China managed to control the proportion of power generation projects and attached more importance to the development of hydro-power, nuclear power and renewable energy while it examined and approved the construction of power station projects. According to data in Table 5-1, the revenue and profit growth of equipment related to coal power such as the boiler and steam turbine all slowed during the period of January to May 2007, yet equipment related to other modes of power generation such as the generator and hydraulic turbine still maintained rapid growth.

1.2 Transmission and Distribution Equipment

At present, the upsurge of power station construction in China has gradually disappeared and correspondingly, power grid construction has come to be the keystone in the development of the power industry. In the first five months of 2007, China’s power grid construction sped up and the investment in the transmission and distribution equipment manufacturing industry increased at the same pace with investment in power grid construction, and as a result, most of the transmission and distribution equipment market achieved significant growth in terms of both sales revenue and total profit.

2. Development Prospects

2.1 Demand for installed capacity will decline slightly and power structure will turn gradually to clean and highly efficient energy.

In the past few years, China’s investment in the power industry was mainly concentrated in the construction of power plants, which had driven the dramatic increase of the power generation equipment industry. With gradual alleviation of pressure in power supply and demand, the growth rate of China’s power plant construction will decline in the future, and thus newly increased demand for installed capacity will go down in step.

(1) Clean and highly efficient power generation equipment will still maintain better development.

Although the growth of annual increased installed capacity in China has slowed down since 2007, the ultra-supercritical generator set will be widely used for its characteristics of high efficiency, high reliability, advanced environmental protection features, and better peak load adjustment performance. With China’s government attaching more and more importance to an improved environment and energy, nuclear power and hydropower will undoubtedly enjoy better development opportunities under government support in the coming years.

(2) New energy power generation equipment has entered the stage of rapid development.

Suggestions in the “11th Five-Year Plan” clearly set forth that “we should speed up the development of renewable energy sources such as wind energy, solar energy and biomass energy”. As a consequence, for a long time into the future, China’s new energy industry will develop rapidly; notedly, with more mature technologies and lower cost, wind power will enjoy the most potential in China.

2.2 Power transmission and transformation industry will enter the stage of rapid development.

The phenomenon of “stressing power generation, neglecting power transmission and supply” in China’s power industry construction has led to a lagging behind in power grid construction, causing serious problems by way of weak power transmission capacity. Particularly in recent years, with the quickening pace of power station construction and operation, there has been a more serious structural imbalance between power generation and power transmission and distribution. Although China’s investment in power grid construction during the “11th Five-year Plan” period will double that of the “10th Five-year Plan” period, it will not change the situation of too little a proportion of power transmission and distribution assets in the industry. Therefore, it will be the trend of the times to input more continual investment in power grid construction.

Reasons for outsourcing

Organizations that outsource are seeking to realize benefits or address the following issues:

* Cost savings. The lowering of the overall cost of the service to the business. This will involve reducing the scope, defining quality levels, re-pricing, re-negotiation, cost re-structuring. Access to lower cost economies through offshoring called “labor arbitrage” generated by the wage gap between industrialized and developing nations.
* Cost restructuring. Operating leverage is a measure that compares fixed costs to variable costs. Outsourcing changes the balance of this ratio by offering a move from variable to fixed cost and also by making variable costs more predictable.
* Improve quality. Achieve a step change in quality through contracting out the service with a new service level agreement.
* Knowledge. Access to intellectual property and wider experience and knowledge.
* Contract. Services will be provided to a legally binding contract with financial penalties and legal redress. This is not the case with internal services.
* Operational expertise. Access to operational best practice that would be too difficult or time consuming to develop in-house.
* Staffing issues. Access to a larger talent pool and a sustainable source of skills.
* Capacity management. An improved method of capacity management of services and technology where the risk in providing the excess capacity is borne by the supplier.
* Catalyst for change. An organization can use an outsourcing agreement as a catalyst for major step change that can not be achieved alone. The outsourcer becomes a Change agent in the process.
* Reduce time to market. The acceleration of the development or production of a product through the additional capability brought by the supplier.
* Commodification. The trend of standardizing business processes, IT Services and application services enabling businesses to intelligently buy at the right price. Allows a wide range of businesses access to services previously only available to large corporations.
* Risk management. An approach to risk management for some types of risks is to partner with an outsourcer who is better able to provide the mitigation.
* Time zone. A sequential task can be done during normal day shift in different time zones – to make it seamlessly available 24×7. Same/similar can be done on a longer term between earth’s hemispheres of summer/winter.
* Customer Pressure. Customers may see benefits in dealing with your company, but are not happy with the performance of certain elements of the business, which they may not see a solution to except through outsourcing.

Policy solutions to outsourcing are also criticized.

Security

Before outsourcing an organization is responsible for the actions of all their staff and liable for their actions. When these same people are transferred to an outsourcer they may not change desk but their legal status has changed. They no-longer are directly employed or responsible to the organization. This causes legal, security and compliance issues that need to be addressed through the contract between the client and the suppliers. This is one of the most complex areas of outsourcing and requires a specialist third party adviser.

Fraud

Fraud is a specific security issue that is criminal activity whether it is by employees or the supplier staff. It can be argued that fraud is more likely when outsourcers are involved. In April 2005, a high-profile case involving the theft of $350,000 from four Citibank customers occurred when call center workers acquired the passwords to customer accounts and transferred the money to their own accounts opened under fictitious names. Citibank did not find out about the problem until the American customers noticed discrepancies with their accounts and notified the bank.

admin answers:

Http://www.google.com/search?q=wind+tubine+technician+salary

$60,000-$80,000 annually in the US

admin answers:

Hi Robert, to my knowledge, there are only two college level accredited programs in the United States right now. One is in Southwest Michigan, at a school called Kalamazoo Valley Community College. They actually have a large turbine there and a two year degree program on turbine science and maintenance. I can’t recall the other school right now, but I know the one at KVCC was modeled after a program in Europe where they’ve been using turbines a lot longer than we have. Try googleing that schools name, once you find their website it should be short work to find the program and what its costs and requirements are. Western Michigan will likely be the next large wind turbine installation very soon too, Duke Energy is planning on installing hundreds of turbines along the coast of Lake Michigan. Take care, Rudydoo

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The Wind Industry
——————————-
Designing Wind Turbines

Wind Analyst (studies wind patterns) They earn approximately $54 to $75 thousand a year!

Wind Turbine Machinist (usually specialise in metal and plastic parts, but also other areas of wind turbine’s structure)

Wind Farm Electrical Services Designer Operator (Makes sure the electrical components of a wind farm operate properly)

Wind Development Director (Massive responsibility for the correct overall functioning of the Wind Farm and oversees well everyone else!)

Wind Power Field Salesperson (You could start as a Representative and work your way up to Sales Manager, maybe even a Executive Position!)

Wind Turbine Drivetrain Engineer (Perform Engineering and Mechanical tasks relating to wind turbines) They make an average of $52 to $62 thousand a year.

Wind Farm Construction Manager (Make $60 to $80 thousand a year!)

Wind Farm Electrical Systems Designer ($30 to $50 thousand a year)

Wind Turbine Generator Builder (Make $15 – $20 an hour)

Wind Power Turbine Installer

Wind Energy Technician (Make $15 – $22 an hour)

Solar Power Industry
———————————-
PV Solar Panel Installer

Solar Sales Person (make $43 to $73 thousand a year)

Photovoltaic – PV Solar Designer

Solar Thermal Installer

Solar Operations Engineer

Solar Lab Technician

Solar & PV Installer-Roofer

Solar Fabrication Technician

Photovoltaic PV fabrication Testing Technician

Solar Radiant Heating Installer

Solar Hot Water Installer

Organic Farming Industry
————————————-

Horticulture/Horticulturalist

Organic Food Production Worker

Arborist

Permaculture/Permaculturalist

Organic Farmer

Nursery Manager

Landscaping

Organic Poultry Farming

Natural Building Industry
————————————–

Star Bale Construction

Sustainable Home Design

Indoor/Outoor Lanscape Architect

Green Interior Designer

The list goes on and on and on!

admin answers:

4 ceiling fans 400 watts. 7 CFL lights 150 watts. 2 motor pumps 746 watts. One TV 150 watts. Total 1446 watts. 3000 watt gasoline powered generators sell for about $320 USA including tax if you can find a sale. Smaller may cost more and likely cannot supply the starting surge for the pumps. If you need to start both pumps simultaneously, you need 5500 watts or a bit more which will cost about $530, perhaps as much as $1000. 2 kw = 2000 watts likely won’t start either pump even with everything else turned off.
Possibly 3000 watts won’t start the second pump if the first one is running. If you have pump starting problems a possible solution is a 2000 watt (or there abouts) grid tie inverter powered by a battery which you trickle charge from the generator possibly supplemented by a PV solar panel and/or small wind turbine. With the generator running the inverter will think it is connected to the grid, and phase lock with your generator. That will give you 2000 + 3000 = 5000 watts. If you cut the power to one or both pumps, you can turn off the inverter to improve the life expectancy of the battery. Grid tie inverters have an input voltage range, such as 24 to 52 volts, The lower number should be the battery voltage as the actual battery voltage is about 10% more than the battery rated voltage = two 12 volt batteries in series supply about 27 volts to your inverter.
Possibly sme of that is not correct and you should buy about a 2500 watt inverter (not grid tie) with a 5000 watt surge rating. You will need two 6 volt 250 amphour batteries to power it to 5000 watts, and an 800 watt (or there abouts) generator, to charge the batteries when the voltage drops below 6.5 volts on either battery. That may happen frequently unless your wind turbine and/or PV solar panels are rated 1000 watts or more. What is an st generator? Neil

admin answers:

Well I have just passed legislation that will enable students to receive funds directly from these companies that hopefully will increase interest in projects around the country.

Hope this helps,

George

admin answers:

You can survey your house and determine the volt-amps (watts) of all the stuff then convert that to kilowatts. Then estimate the time cycles of the frig, the tv computer lights convert that to hours and add it all up. Ex: A 120VAC fridge has a name plate that indicated it pulls 3.7 A. That means 120*3.7 = 444W = .444 kw. If it cycles on and off on average every 15 min (.25 hr) it used .444 kW * .25 hr =111kw-hr. Do that for the TV compoyer lights everything. That will put you in the ball park.

Or You can buy these nice devices that you plug into and that plugs into the wall and measures the amps and totals the kilowatt-hours for any device. Just plug it in and come back later and see what it reads. Go through that for everything and add it all up.

But realistically, the best way is to go to your electrical meter every night at the same time and record the kilowatt hours. The meter totals so subtract today’s reading from yesterdays to get what you consumed the past day. Do this for some time and get an average. Your electrical bill will also have all this information as they read the meter too. So read it and check out how it varies with the season.

admin answers:

What agent?

These kind of deals are done directly between the manufacturer and the purchaser. ANy “agent” is probably an employee of the manufacturer, and makes a salary with the probability of a year-end bonus based on company profits.

admin answers:

The shut off speed depends on the design of the turbine. They vary.

If you can get the model number, the manufacturer may give you more information.

.

admin answers:

Sun heats the surface of the earth unevenly.

Uneven heating give rise to large scale winds.

Wind turbines are strategically placed to capture as much wind power as they can.

The wind blows on propellers that are attached to the shafts of electric generators.

So the heat of the sun is converted into wind energy, then that wind energy is converted into the rotational motion of the shaft which is ultimately converted into electricity (and heat).

admin answers:

You can use a bicycle wheel, with blades mounted, to drive a bicycle generator. Fashion blades by cutting large diameter PVC tubing lengthwise (splitting it) on a taper so the blade is thinner at the tip. You can make two blades from one piece of tubing if you cut it properly. You can mount them to the spokes, between the hub and rim.

I haven’t seen these bicycle generators around for a while, but I assume they’re still available, with a small knurled wheel that drives from the rim of the wheel. The generators have very good output at low rpm, so they are ideal.

admin answers:

Solar cells or wind powered turbines, but initial cost is horrendous.

However, in the UK at the moment there are Government backed schemes for these Green Energy sources where you can actually put power back into the National Grid, when you are not using it, or generating an excess for your own usage and get paid for it. Again initial costs are mind blowing.

admin answers:

Where I live there is a five star rating on all new housing so people have to install either solar or a rainwater tank. In europe there is even a 10 star rating system. As we are in a long term drought our water use is limited and many people use a grey water system for flushing their toilets and watering their garden. Solar passive design of a house can go a long way to reducing its energy needs and requires being smart rather than costing a lot. The retrofitting of existing housing stock is expensive but there are many simple inexpensive things you can do like switching off lights and unused appliances at the socket, install a reduced flow shower head and a dual flush toilet. Check the energy use of appliances before you buy them. If you’re cold put on a jumper before you crank up the heating. If a room is always hot grow a tree or vines outside to cut out the sun. Buy second hand and choose items without packaging and that are produced locally. It’s about your behaviour as much as the buildings you live in.

admin answers:

Technicians go to trade school. Designers and planners need a BS in Engineering.

admin answers:

Mostly mechanical engineers, but electrical engineers for the generators, structural engineers for the structure.

Most things are designed by teams that cover multiple fields.

Edit: correction: technicians and workers make the wind turbines, engineers design them.

admin answers:

I dont want to copy the entire article from the site—please do visit the link below for full information

A wind turbine is a machine for converting the mechanical energy in wind into electrical energy. If the mechanical energy is used directly by machinery, such as a pump or grinding stones, the machine is usually called a windmill. If the mechanical energy is then converted to electricity, the machine is called a wind generator

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wind_turbines
.
Http://www.howstuffworks.com/search.php
http://windpower.getfast.info/wind_power/?kw=small%20wind%20electricity%20systems,wind%20turbine

admin answers:

It seems no matter how many time this is asked and answered it keeps coming back. Simple logic should tell you that if you look at the head on profile of the blades they describe a circle as they spin and at any given moment the blades occupy a tiny percentage of that circle. There is also the tower that holds the blades up but again they are usually only a few meters wide and the arch of the blades is usually at least 10m above the ground for safety. If you wish to talk about stopping the wind a forest has far more of an effect.
The average wind generator is only ~50-70m high, most wind effect relates to precipitation and cloud movement/formation which occurs well above this height, even the largest wind generator in the world, has by comparison a small blade area and with a metal mesh tower that offer quite small wind resistance. The Troposphere is ~10km high which is a little more than 50 or even 200m.
Http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fuhrl%C3%A4nder_Wind_Turbine_Laasow
At least you didn’t ask if they slow the Earth’s rotation, which believe it or not, has also been asked before a number of times.

admin answers:

That’s the Obama Administration for you. Screw the American worker, while pumping us up about job creation. Obama has done this before where he’ll bring in European-made wind generator components, and have them assembled by Chinese engineers. Something tells me this might be a deal Obama worked out to help pay off the money we are indebted to China. But the real purpose is to once again, pull the rug out from American workers.

Knowing the lack of oversight in China, I’m sure the metal beams and supports will have to be replaced in a matter of a few years before they rust out and collapse. So I don’t think there will be a lack of work for the welder. But this will be another signature failure, courtesy of Obama.

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Im not a local but i lived there two years but didnt you see the news on yahoo front page this morning that it is being evactuated from 100 mph winds and huge snow storms on the way………….. When i lived there it was full of hard ship and expense so if you researched alotta information on the place its not an easy place to live even when the above is not taking place…… Its earthquake ridden also… As you know winter its dark all but two hours summer its sunlight all but two hours really screw ur sleeping up gets down to ninety below zero way too much snow tires go flat every day battery heaters necessary the food was very expensive there in seventys alcan high way was horrible to drive on….. Im sure its changed a teeny bit..housing expensive … Marijuana there of course…… If the power goes out you freeze to death so you need a generator…….. Its an adventure and great photography but for now GOD is not happy at ALASKA…..

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You can consult buildings, and electrical devices and material stores on your locality if you want to assemble one by yourself or call some retailers for international companies such as Bonus Turbine of Denmark.

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I think they are beautiful and should count as a sculpture. It is a perception issue. We are a glutenous nation and we tolerate smog, but not wind turbines or solar panels.

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Hey Marcus, there are two reasons, cost and efficiency. The old grain mills had to transmit the torque to the building at the bottom mechanically, they didn’t have electric generators and voltage regulators in those days, if they did, they would certainly have run a pair of wires down that tower instead of some gears and push rods. The other reason, efficiency, is a bigger player today than it was 100 years ago. Most modern turbines today, which generally have 3 long slender blades instead of a dozen or so square metal ones can convert about one third of the energy in the moving column of air to electricity. The old style turbines you saw on farms centuries ago were maybe 5% efficient. The other reason for those big rectangular blades was starting torque, mainly to start the water pump. They were not interested in having the thing run well, or at all in 100 mph winds with tremendous RPM’s, it would simply destroy the entire mechnism.

We run our home on solar and wind right now. Our wind turbine is a commercially made unit a little bigger than a ceiling fan, but can develope almost 1000 watts in good wind. It is small and light enough to take up to the top of the tower in a backpack and install by hand with ordinary hand tools, that was the main reason we selected it. For our home, we should have a larger one, maybe 1500 watts or so, but the weight of the generator almost requires the use of a small crane at that point. I do not know of anyone using helicopters to install or service rotors today. The large commercial ones actually have ladders built into the inside of the tower, and space to work inside the tower top housing. Smaller ones like mine either go on a Rohns Guyed Lattice tower, or similar type of tower, which has a ladder built into the framing for climbing, or they use a crane truck to reach the top.

In our experience the last 11 years, the only thing that needs periodic service is the electronics, regulators, and batteries, which in our case is at the bottom of the tower. In fact, those devices are all in our battery room in the garage. Our previous turbine was a smaller unit with the generator and electronics all in the housing. Each time the regulator burned up or malfunctioned, the entire unit had to come off the top of the tower. This was the main reason we upgraded to the unit we have now. Exposure to the elements, gusty winds and even lightning never seem to bother the generator itself, so we make very few trips up the tower these days. Take care Marcus, Rudydoo

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Here is a great website if your looking to make your own wind turbine at home.

Www.Squidoo.com/HomeMade-Green-energy

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Oh you northerners 🙂
I’m from NC, so listen up. Unless you are on the coast, you won’t need to worry. Just be prepared if your area is forcasted to be in a flooding zone. By the time it gets up there the winds are supposed to be mostly tropical storm force, so don’t worry about that unless you have large trees on your property. You should have a few things though:
-enough bottled water supply for a few days
-first aid kit
-flash lights
-batteries, lots and lots of batteries
-weather radio in the event the power gets knocked out
-possibly a generator if you really want power in your home
-non-refrigerated food
-and also have supplies in the event that you need to clean up your property afterwards (chainsaws, brooms, leaf blowers, etc)

I’m supposed to get hit tonight/tomorrow so I’ll be having fun. Good luck!

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You’re asking a difficult question only because the technology is improving each month. What is the best today probably won’t be the best next year. For wind power you will need a wind availibility survey describing the average wind conditions throughout the year for your locality. Every homesite is a bit different. To establish a cost/benefit analysis your first have to know how much wind energy is available.

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The question is written to allow for a rather simple solution, unlike the challenges of real wind turbine power and energy estimation.

Energy = Power x Time

Electric power produced = conversion efficiency x gross wind power

Gross wind power = power density x turbine swept area

So, with all the equations at hand, we can solve the problem.

Turbine swept area = 2 x pi x (25 m)^2 = 3927 m^2
Wind power density = 500 W/m^2

Thus, Gross wind power = 500 W/m^2 x 3927 m^2 = 1.9635 x10^6 W = 1.9635 MW

Electric power produced = 0.25 * 1.9635 MW = 0.49087 MW

Since the problem identifies the wind power as long-term average, we can calculate the average energy produced in a year.

Energy (Joules) = Watts x seconds
Energy = 0.49087 MW x 31536000 s = 15.487 x10^6 MJ
But the question asked for energy measured in kilowatt-hours (kWh).

So, Energy = 490.87 kW * 8760 h = 4300100 kWh produced in 1 year.

Unfortunately, a real wind turbine would produce this energy in an unscheduleable manner, typically peaking when the demand (load) is lowest. That’s the challenge of wind energy.

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Wind energy is not continues and hence it is not going to cut your bill drastically. Even the wind farms can built not to feed continuously to the grid but intermittently. For individuals the cost of wind turbine is going to be very expensive compared to the power bill. Good to go for one with the impact on environment but if you ar going for saving dollars then you are going to be disappointed.