Photovoltaic? NTY! These cells are only 25% efficient at capturing their energy source, photons. Wind works better, typically, on cloudy days and the windiest areas of the US just so happen to be the exact same areas where we pump all that black goo out of the ground. I recently, 4 months ago, installed a 10 Kw turbine on my.5 acre property in western Washington state and have been able to sell back 16/ month, on average (during less windy summer months in this area), worth of electricity back to our PUD. The unit and battery storage cost me about 8k total and will completely pay for itself in 5 years and 2 months at my current estimates. The upfront cost hurdle is the thing we need to get over. I realize most homes can't afford this initial cost, but through government incentives and tax deductions we can minimize this cost. If local government starts to dedicate the same lands they do for high-tension towers to wind turbines we could be green inside 10 years. It's the pacs and lobbys you have to conquer first! We have a 1740 sq ft home with myself, my wife, and our daughter in our home and we use energy saving lighting and energy star rated appliances in our home, if that helps anyone gauge their needs a bit better. I am telling you, wind is the way of the futureperiod! The turbine is on an SSV tower at 28 meters with 7m blades and is unbelievably quiet. We average 13 mph wind speed in this area. I am using my batteries a lot in the summer months, but I figure this will stop during fall, winter and spring when our winds pick up drastically in this part of the state. We also have adopted an energy efficient living strategy. We don't do ALL our laundry on the same day, we do one load 4 days/ week. We put our computer on stand-by every time we walk away from it. My daughter has been taught to walk around the house every hour and turns lights off. She is 4 and this is how we taught her how to tell time. She is a wiz at it now and is constantly reminding my wife (who seems to have the hardest time adjusting to the lifestyle) to turn off lights when she leaves the room! We get a kick out of it. My projections are for 23,000 Kw of energy by May of 2009. Which is actually 4,000Kw above the average projections for my area. My neighboors have all expressed interest after I showed them my first paymeny from our PUD. I can't say enough good things about it! If you have the up-front capitol and even approach the suggested 11mph average wind-speed suggested for best operation you can say good-bye to your power company forever. I installed the tower myself which saved me 2k, and it wasn't that hard to do due to the helpful nature of green-industry companies' employees. There are cheaper options, such as the 1Kw turbines that are shockingly small and easy to install that supplement your power if you live in an area with less than desireable average wind-speeds. The residential market has taken leaps and bounds over the last 5 years and I may decide to upgrade my current turbine once this one pays for itself. Now if only I could get a company to make me an electric car so I can charge it off this thing and have a carbon footprint of near zero!
