Re: UK company brings affordable home windmill to the masses

info_at_mistral.net
Date: 10/11/04 

Date: Mon, 11 Oct 2004 22:12:09 +0100

On Sat, 09 Oct 2004 22:25:46 GMT, habshi@anony.com (habshi) wrote:

> Had asteroid Tautotis hit us last week , it would be equal to
>the energy release of one Hiroshima every second for 13 years !!!

So we would all be dead.

> How can we capture the energy of these fast moving demons?
>Could we attach a metal parachute to the back of T and convert the
>mechanical energy of the strain to electricity and beam it down to
>earth ? Eventually T will stop - what does stop mean in space ? We
>could supply all earth needs for hundreds of years from just one
>asteroid .
> Are my articles used in school rooms across the USA and if not
>why not ?
> Mini-turbine brings 'green power for all'
>
>Company claims its domestic wind unit can provide 15% of average
>household's electricity needs
>
>John Vidal, environment editor
>Monday November 24, 2003
>The Guardian
>
>The winds of change will blow a little stronger this morning when a
>small Scottish company launches Britain's first wind power system
>designed to be fitted on almost any roof or wall to supplement
>electricity from the grid.
>Just two days after Britain's biggest offshore wind farm started
>generating electricity off the north Wales coast, the designers of the
>tiny domestic unit believe they can provide up to 15% of the annual
>electricity needs of an average house for a one-off cost of £750 -
>bringing green electricity into the price range of most families.
>
>The machine, a 3ft by 2ft sealed box with three blades which face into
>the prevailing wind, is backed by the energy minister, Brian Wilson,
>who is a paid consultant for Windsave, the company behind it.
>
>Unlike old-style domestic wind generators, which needed a lot of land,
>sat on top of poles and drove pumps and a few bulbs for farmers and
>backwoodsmen, the machine does not need batteries to store the
>electricity. Instead, it tops up the existing mains supply.
>
>Unlike bigger systems, it cannot sell excess power back into the grid.
>But the company believes it has cracked the holy grail of renewable
>energy - getting government subsidies and making the machines silent.
>
>In theory, there are handouts both for installation and for "Rocs" -
>renewable obligation charges - which currently pay green electricity
>providers about 6p per kilowatt-hour generated.
>
>The system, says the Scottish inventor David Gordon, who has pumped
>£1m into the idea, can generate up to 750 watts - enough to power
>lights but not high-energy items such as kettles or heaters.
>
>"Nobody has been able to take raw wind power and put it straight into
>the domestic electrical system at 240 volts," he said. "We will be
>able to bring green energy to the masses."
>
>Mr Wilson, who has declared his interest in the company on the House
>of Commons register and has no financial share in it, was
>enthusiastic. "I have looked at it upside down and sideways for a
>catch and I don't think there is one. The amazing thing is its
>affordability.
>
>"It will be a few hundred quid, you do your bit for the environment,
>and you get a cheque back once a year. What more can you want? It's
>been though all the standard checks and everyone who's seen it is of
>the same opinion."
>
>Mr Gordon admits that his invention is not as technically efficient as
>turbines sited on high poles to collect the optimum wind, but says
>that it is the annual supplementing of household electricity which
>makes it suitable for buildings. The machine starts working at a wind
>speed of 3mph and is said to be most efficient in a 20mph breeze -
>common for much of the year across large parts of Britain.
>
>Using the remote metering technology which made Mr Gordon's fortune
>after he sold his company to BT, each unit installed will be
>automatically phoned every quarter to see how much electricity it has
>generated.
>
>The company will then collect the subsidy from the government and
>distribute it back to owners according to how much they have
>generated. "We believe the payback period could be as little as 30
>months," said Mr Gordon.
>
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> The British Wind Energy Association, which represents large-scale
>windpower generators, professed itself amazed at the development. "If
>it works, it's fantastic," said spokeswoman Alison Hill.
>
>Yesterday it was provisionally backed by Country Guardian, the lobby
>group which has opposed almost every planning application submitted
>for windpower development in Britain in the past decade.
>
>"I think they are a good idea. I don't think they'll look very
>beautiful, but we always feel that it's the people in cities who use
>the power and that we in the country have to pay the price," said Ann
>Evans, a vice-president.
>
>Local planners may be divided about whether the innovations need
>planning permission. Technically, they do not, says Mr Gordon, if they
>are sited below the highest point of houses. But many local
>authorities and heritage groups objected strongly at first to
>satellite dishes, and may not want to see large boxes with spinning
>blades put up.
>
>The machines are to be made outside Edinburgh. Local authorities,
>government offices and light industry will be targeted first, followed
>by householders in about three months.
>
>· Windsave Ltd, 27 Woodside Place, Glasgow G3 7QL, 0141 353 6841
>Email: info@windsave.com
>
>
>Special report
>Renewable energy
>
>The issue explained
>14.12.2001: Renewable energy
>
>

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