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I respectfully disagree, Oil is global commodity, traded on the global market. What isn't as clear cut is REFINED crude into Fuel (Gas/Diesel) and other product. The US is one of, if not the leader in fuel refining in the world - and it was our number #1 export commodity last year. (Unless something at the very end of the year changed) What our Federal Government needs to decide is what/how much are companies should be allowed to export.
About personal windmills, I don't know if you'd want to live in a place that has enough wind to make it worth it.
It doesn't take that much, actually. Wind turbines start generating power when the wind speed is about 10mph. Site evaluations take into account how strong the wind is, as well as how much of the time the wind blows. For example a site that has 12mph wind 35% of the time would be more productive than a site that has 15mph wind 25% of the time.
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Sorry about the thread hijack, but I wanted to say thank you to all who posted on my negative externalities of wind thread, but it got closed. Thanks anyway though.
Oh, that's OK, I think this one is probably due to be closed soon too, since so many people are posting off topic.
The topic is wind power, for those who lost the thread!
It doesn't take that much, actually. Wind turbines start generating power when the wind speed is about 10mph. Site evaluations take into account how strong the wind is, as well as how much of the time the wind blows. For example a site that has 12mph wind 35% of the time would be more productive than a site that has 15mph wind 25% of the time.
Oh, that's OK, I think this one is probably due to be closed soon too, since so many people are posting off topic.
The topic is wind power, for those who lost the thread!
Actually that depends upon the turbine. Some turbines only take eight mph others can do it in 7mph. Research is going in the trend of 5mph winds which is pretty much even what you find in most suburbs for most times of the day.
Seriously, this thread is about wind power, not about the Keystone XL pipeline or tarsands oil or Republican oil policies or Alaskan roads, none of which, I feel, even belong in the Green forum, much less in a thread about wind power.
As moms and bartenders the world over have been saying forever, "Take it outside!"
I did some more research and there are companies trying to develop wind turbines that will generate power in wind as slow as 2 mph. Now the problem that I have found is that the juice isn't worth the squeeze. Meaning a greater than 30 year ROI. Now granted if it means power vs. no power - the cost will be worth it. But most won't be able to justify spending that kind of money.
In Alaska you'll get a lot of power in the summer and almost none in the winter.
Quite true. Many remote Alaskan homesteads rely entirely on solar in the summer, with minimal (if any) batteries required since the sun never truly sets between late May and early August. However, if these homesteads have year round occupancy, they will usually have a hybrid system consisting of solar, wind, combustion generator and battery bank since the sun only weakly shines for 4 hours in mid-winter. Luckily, one of the big energy suckers -- refrigeration and cooling -- is not required in Alaska in winter
It all depends on where you live in Alaska of course. In some locations (like the wrong side of the mountain) wind or solar may not be an option, or one may completely outstrip the other regardless (like wind on the shoreline). But this is true of any location, the only difference is that Alaska has seasonal climate extremes and more remote areas than the rest of the ConUS; and our landmass is large enough to encompass nearly all climate types from rainforest to desert, maritime to continental.
But in any case, the efficiency of renewable energy systems, and of which type(s), for personal/small-scale generation is dictated by location and circumstance. Hybrid systems tailored to the specific location are generally more successful in areas with seasonal variation or extremes. If you have no way to affordably get grid power, even dodgy wind or solar is better than nothing. In many cases, a properly tailored hybrid system is less expensive than running grid lines to remote locations, and often in locations any significant distance from the grid (i.e. they have to put in a pole or two to reach you).
The big difference is that RE systems tend to be a pay upfront solution, so you see almost the entire full cost in a lump sum; while grid systems tend to be a pay a little now and more forever, so the impact of the full cost is not a large number staring you right in the face.
I did some more research and there are companies trying to develop wind turbines that will generate power in wind as slow as 2 mph. Now the problem that I have found is that the juice isn't worth the squeeze.
Exactly. The problem is not engineering, the problem is physics.
Of course a wind turbine can be engineered to turn at very slow wind speeds, and even generate a little electricity, but the amount of electrical power it can generate will be limited by the amount of energy in the wind. There just isn't a lot of power available in a residential sized wind power unit at 2 mph.
Exactly. The problem is not engineering, the problem is physics.
Of course a wind turbine can be engineered to turn at very slow wind speeds, and even generate a little electricity, but the amount of electrical power it can generate will be limited by the amount of energy in the wind. There just isn't a lot of power available in a residential sized wind power unit at 2 mph.
I agree that you won't get a huge amount of electricity from low speed wind turbines; but if you have constant/frequent low winds it's usully enough to trickle charge a battery bank if you're being conservative. It would/does help tide PV over on cloudy days and/or allow you to run a combustion generator less in the dark season.
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