Wind energy made simple
April 28, 2008 at 4:11 pm by Thomas Wheatley in NewsEnergy experts are saying that Georgia’s potential to become a clean-technology leader is best realized in pine ethanol. The state’s abundant arboreal resources, they argue, could give us an alternative to gasoline as well as a revenue stream.
But there’s also wind. Studies conducted by Dr. Sam Shelton of Georgia Tech discovered that breezes off the state’s coast were sufficient enough to generate power. The turbines would be located more than 12 miles from shore and beyond the horizon, far out of eyesight of landowners and beachgoers. The ocean floor is shallow enough and the proposed turbine locations are outside hurricanes’ paths and migration patterns of the endangered right whale. Problems: It costs a lot of coin to run transmission cables along the ocean floor and takes a lot of time to obtain the permits to do so.
Maybe it’ll take raising public awareness to get Georgians to tell the utilities and EMCs to invest in wind power. Maybe this European commercial showcasing how wind feels so damn lonely just blowing in this world, adrift and without a purpose, might convince us to put out the call. (Warning: There is a brief shot of Mr. Wind using his supernatural powers to momentarily lift a woman’s skirt . That sentence I just wrote makes it sound worse than it is.)
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April 29th, 2008 at 11:35 am
How expensive would coal, natural gas and nuclear power have to be before off-shore wind turbines become a viable option?
Also, if the cost of solar panels keeps dropping, will solar make more sense than off-shore turbines? I know we’re not an ideal locale for solar is it possible that solar panels will be cheap enough to make them worthwhile for wider use in Metro Atlanta?
April 29th, 2008 at 12:30 pm
I don’t have any exact numbers on hand that show just how high the prices of the go-to fuels for electricity generation have to rise until they’re no longer economically viable. According to Georgia Power’s Web site, nearly 50 percent of their revenue goes toward purchasing fuel, be it coal, liquid natural gas, etc. But the price of oil is driving everything up and there are no signs that’s going down any time soon. There’s talk that if the nation reduces demand 10-15 percent that it’d make a dent, but I’ve also read that with the high demand overseas and the fact that production is at capacity, that oil would only go in larger quantities to China and India.
According to Sam Shelton, wind power is commercially viable right now. It’s just the cost of running transmission lines along the ocean floor, as well as the permits necessary to do so, that are the main obstacles. It wouldn’t be enough to power the entire state, but it’d be something to toss in the mix.
Solar power is becoming more affordable, but it’s still incredibly expensive. Solar cells only make up 35 percent of solar power’s cost — a large chunk comes from converting the power so it can be used in households. That needs to be brought down. Rebates, credits and incentives are needed, all the experts say. Solar panel manufacturers based in Georgia received a tax rebate from the General Assembly this year. That needs to be extended to the Georgians who’ll purchase their products. Even with all that, however, I’ve been told there’s not enough sun here to totally power a home, even if you had a entire roof of solar panels.
April 29th, 2008 at 3:44 pm
I saw a recent feature on the largest residential array in the country. It cost $ 750,000, but ran a large estate and, sometimes, sold power back to the grid. The owner said it wasn’t about being green, but the east coast blackouts scared him into self sufficiency due to the fragility of supply lines. The owner was JR Ewing aka Larry Hagman. Ironic?
I am investigating a solar array for my parents beach house as a supplement to their grid power. If the local co-op is up to it, we would be a net seller to the grid over the course of a year. I looked at a wind turbine, but it wasn’t a viable alternative due to cost, size, zoning and neighbor objections, along with unreliable prevailing winds.
April 29th, 2008 at 9:50 pm
Dale,
As with anything in life, it comes down to how much you want to buy, or in this case, how much you’d like to save. I’ve seen solar-panel systems for regular-sized homes cost as much — or in contrast to our dear friend JR’s case, as little — as $30,000. That’s still a lot for many folks.
Where’s your parent’s beach house? If they’re in Georgia, there aren’t a lot of incentives available, although the dream of having a monthly energy bill of only a few bucks and the role reversed to where they actually provide power to the utility is appealing.
Here are several Web sites I found when I conducted research for our Dec. 2007 cover story about the Kyoto Protocol’s 10th anniversary. Many of these offer a rundown of what federal, state and local incentives are available.
Flex Your Power – (www.fypower.org) Enter your ZIP code and see what incentives are offered in your area in terms of using alternate fuels and energy.
Database of State Incentives for Renewables & Efficiency – (www.dsireusa.org/index.cfm?EE=1&RE=1) A comprehensive directory of local, state, federal and utility incentives and rebates for everything from installing solar panels to buying a hybrid vehicle.
Energy STAR Federal Tax Credits and Incentives – (www.energystar.gov/index.cfm?c=products.pr_tax_credits) Even more federal rebates and reasons to go green. Visit the home page for information on every product affixed with the Energy Star label.
EPA’s Funding List – (www.epa.gov/greenbuilding/tools/funding.htm) A short but resourceful list of programs available to homeowners, builders and industries looking to minimize their carbon footprint.
April 30th, 2008 at 1:22 pm
Dale,
An old Railroad buddy of mine, in Perry has the largest residential solar array east of the Mississipi. Here are pictures and details of his setup:
http://www.odoban.com/ECSolarPower2b.html
April 30th, 2008 at 3:49 pm
Vic - that’s pretty cool, especially for a normal citizen.
Here is Hagman’s link - http://www.larryhagman.com/welcomeframestwo.htm
There is a link to a Word doc (WTF? Word?) for the press release under thea heading “Who shocked JR”.
The first excerpt says about 12 normal households. IF teh cost was $ 750,000, that is $ 62,500 per household. Still way high, but getting close to doable. I wonder if there are any economies of scale for something like this?
and excerpts
His 102.7 kW (DC) system generates an electrifying 150,000 kilowatt-hours per year, enough energy to power a dozen or more average households.
The annual electric bill for his mountaintop home and 46-acre farm plummeted from $37,000 to $13 overnight.
Hagman produces an excess 10,000 kilowatt hours per year. 9which he sells back to the grid)
May 1st, 2008 at 9:38 am
a new liver and a $13 electric bill, what a life!
May 1st, 2008 at 10:00 am
God bless the resiliency of the human body and the power of the sun, gents!
May 1st, 2008 at 10:26 am
Speaking of the resiliency of the human body, anybody seen the new Rolling Stones movie?
May 1st, 2008 at 8:13 pm
BTW, the house is in Orange Beach… any tips on finding regs, incentives, selling back to the grid, etc
May 1st, 2008 at 8:13 pm
Oops Orange Beach Alabama