Very Cool: My Wind Turbine

My Wind Turbine
June 8, 2009
Link to full article below

For several years, I have wanted to install a wind turbine to do even more to mitigate my impact on global warming. For the past 18 months, I've waited patiently for our local alternative energy company, Earth Turbines, to ready their product for market. Faced with ongoing delays while they perfect their technology I decided to go instead with a 10 kilowatt Bergey wind turbine.

Step one in the process is clearing the site where the turbine will be installed. That took much of my weekend. (There is something cathartic about clearing land. I always experience a degree of absolute physical exhaustion that is uncharacteristic of any other type of exercise.)

The next step in the process is permitting. Vermont has been sadly hostile to wind power, though residential turbines are much simpler to get approved than commercial installations. Recently a new law was passed that guarantees any electricity generated by a residential turbine must be purchased by the local utility at $.20 a kilowatt hour. This is called net-metering, and it's not a bad deal considering that here in Vermont we pay between $.10 and $.13 for the energy we purchase. Solar gets an even better deal at $.30 a kilowatt hour.

To read the full article: http://www.seventhgeneration.com/learn/inspiredprotagonist/my-wind-turbine-part-1?source=email&utm_source=bronto&utm_medium=email&utm_term=READ+MORE+&utm_content=fidyl%40yahoo.com&utm_campaign=7Gen+-+June+24%2C+2009+-+Non-Nation