Embrace The Revolution!

[Shirley]

"There are few more heroic examples of the union of design and engineering than the wind turbine. They are an inspiration to anybody involved in creating innovative solutions for modern living. Where can I get one?"
Tom Dixon, Creative Director, Habitat

http://www.embracewind.org/

Embrace the Revolution is giving a voice to the silent majority who support wind energy.
If you're in favour of wind energy, it's time to show your support: Embrace the Revolution!

[glenniedragon]

Signed up......I'd much rather have a field of turbines behind me than Hinkley point. (just up the coast) we've looked into wind power for our 'outhouse' and it's slowly becomming more affordable.

Thanks for the link
Kind thoughts
Deb

[Goodlife1970]

We have currently got a huge arguement going on over plans to build a series of wind turbines in the Amman Valley. I would ather have wind turbines on my landscape than a nuclear power plant! On a smaller scale Im trying to find plans in simple English for a small turbine to power a light in my chicken shed.

[ina]

Can't remember where - but I've seen some quite affordable solar panels for just that kind of thing - they basically give you enough light for a few hours in the evening. Designed with garages/outhouses in mind.

There was something in the paper (poss. Scottish Farmer?) about several eagles being killed by wind turbines in Norway. That is, of course, oil on the fire of anti-windpower lobbyists, who want to prevent a wind farm on one of the Hebrides. They are proud, and rightly so, of the few eagles we have in Scotland. So I suppose they have to think carefully about positioning and not just plant one of them next to an eagle's nest! I'd love my own little turbine, too.

[Shirley]

we picked up a leaflet from these people at a fair somewhere - can't remember where - think it was shepton mallet

http://www.barnlighting.co.uk/

[Shirley]

http://www.windsave.com/ does mini turbines...

the prices on that barn lighting one are high aren't they!! At least there are grants towards turbines (allegedly)

[Goodlife1970]

http://www.windsave.com/ does mini turbines...

the prices on that barn lighting one are high aren't they!! At least there are grants towards turbines (allegedly)

Thanks Shilz,the barn lighting is a little excessive! Cant get a price,at the moment,for the turbines but they look promising. Did try to get instuctions for a DIY version but got lost after the fixing an alternator!

[Muddypause]

I would ather have wind turbines on my landscape than a nuclear power plant!

Y'see, I think that's the con. That's not the real option, it's a political contrivance to make us choose something that doesn't need us to examine our consumption habits. (I've ranted about this in several other threads, so won't get too involved here).

The real choice is not between wind farms or nuclear powerstations, but between our continuing to consume ever greater amounts of energy, or living in a sustainable way. A windfarm is an industrial complex. It is no more attractive than a quarry or a landfill site. The trick is, it makes people feel OK about consuming more and more.

We have just had a single wind turbine installed in this town, and I happened to find a website devoted exclusively to the foundations underneath it - 15.5m diameter x 2.5m thick reinforced concrete slab mounted on 30 concrete piles extending up to 17m into the ground. That supports a single turbine. Imagine a field of 50 of them (this is small by some proposals). That land will effectively be sacrificed to our manic greed forever. There would be no real prospect of ever restoring that land back to how it was. We are about to pay for our blind greed with our most precious asset.

The real way forward is to consume less, not simply on an individual basis, but culturally. We are caught up in a cultural cycle of greed; demand-production-consumption-demand. Windfarms will only exacerbate that in the same way that a nuclear power station will.

There - I said I wouldn't get involved!

[Goodlife1970]

Food for thought there Stew,had no idea what huge foundations these things need (shouldve twigged what with OH being a builder!) pretty scary when its put like that. Not so sure how I feel about it now.................

[ina]

Wind turbines for domestic use wouldn't need anything like it, though... And the foundations depend on where they are sited, too, i.e. what the natural ground is like. Place them on rock, and things'll look different!

The shed lighting thing that I saw was much cheaper, started at under £100 - as usual, can't remember where I saw it, but will keep looking.

[Goodlife1970]

Spent most of last night thinking about this issue Stew,thanks for that! Actually I cant see telling people to use less energy working (havent we been doing that for at least the last 30 years?) Combine the apathy of the "normal" family with the growing population and the "throw the old one away and buy a new one" society we live in and you are faced with a sea of blank faces and still the need for energy. I did have the idea that every building could be forced to produce a percentage of its own energy from a renewable source but even thats pretty unworkable en mass. The wind farm that is proposed for the Amman Valley will be a blot on the landscape but the landscape isnt a natural one,years of mining have seen to that and most of the "hills" that surround us are actually spoil heaps that have been grassed over,the good thing about this,I suppose,is that as "contaminated land" the likelyhood of it being built on is remote! For my small part,I shall be looking into getting a small domestic turbine,Im hoping its a case of "every little helps".

[Muddypause]

I'm all in favour of domestic scale wind generation. Elsewhere I noted that the Energy Savings Trust (a government funding body) are looking into the viability of supporting microgeneration on a widespread scale, with the possibility of grant aid. Not sure if any grants are available yet, but if they handle it in the same way that they handled the grant scheme for LPG car conversions, then it will be a right bleedin' cock-up (am I allowed to say that here?).

There must be massive potential for conurbations of dense housing to make a significant input into our national energy needs, by each house having its own little windmill, rather than thousands of acres of industrial scale windfarm.

I feel quite sure that windfarms are not about saving the planet, but about making a lot of money. With international gas and oil prices all set to rocket, there is a killing to be made for those that get in early enough. There is a ready primed market of people who will happily consume the product; 'green energy' will enable them to go on consuming more and more, under the impression that they are not having any impact. It's a bit like potato crisps being sold as a health food (low in fat, low in salt; hell, these must be good for you - I can eat two packets now.) In reality, it's just a marketing ploy.

There was an interesting discussion on Newsnight last night between various people all with environmental concerns (it was part of the 'Ethical Man' item). In a way I agreed with them all; there was one chap saying that the difference an individual can make is utterly insignificant in global terms, and he was right; and there was a woman saying that we all have to be responsible for our own consumption, and she was right to. Personally, I feel I should at least attempt not to make more of a mess than I have to, but that's to do with personal ethics, rather than a feeling that saving the planet is down to me.

On another note; Ina, I think the issue with the foundations is not the need to support the weight of the thing, but the need to stop it toppling over - a turbine like this is not only very tall (with most of its weight at the top), but is designed to catch the wind too, so there will be great toppling forces on it. A rocky substrata would be OK if you only needed to support a verticle load, but I think it would be difficult to fix a wind turbine to it. A big hefty concrete platform can have the mountings cast into it, and the whole thing would be a bit like a gigantic standard lamp, which needs a wide, heavy base for much the same reasons. I have to say that I was surprised at just how big that base is, though (by my estimation, there is about 1,000 tonnes of concrete just in the platform, not including the piles).

[Goodlife1970]

Have been onto my local Eco project to see about a grant,didnt know there were so many available for alternative power sources! Just waiting for them to get back to me,will post the details as soon as they come through.