For the love of Wind
Interesting article from the homeland. Ministers are about to announce a move towards wind power that could see British homes powered by wind technology alone by 2020. This makes me happy. Ive always been a fan of renewable and freely abundant energy sources. One of my favourite spots is of course Palm Springs on the approach to LA – how anyone can see wind farms as anything other than magnificent is beyond me. I'll certainly take these beautiful objects over coal power stations like those in Didcot, South Oxfordshire any day! I also like the look of the wind turbine in Green Park that you can see from the M4 just outside of Heathrow in Reading. It was designed by Sir Normal Foster (like Cranfield Universities library where I worked on my PhD) so it has form as well as function. I'm quite surprised that more hasnt been done on both sides of the pond to make people aware of the low cost of ownership of wind turbines. Theyre quite popular in the farming community (so they must save you money in the long term knowing farmers like I do!) and Im seriously considering one for my eventual home. They are also big in the boating community for obvious reasons. What I like about the whole wind movement is that, in the UK at least, its seen as state of the art to have one of these things in your back yard. We need more of that kind of ethos here. The costs of a system are about $4k these days and rumor has it that you'll return more money on this investment than you will savings in the bank earning 5%. Again – why arent these facts and figures being reported more generally? Home Depot may be partly to blame. B&Q – the UK's Home Depot sells wind turbines for about $2.5k – the British government also provides grants to help home owners set these mini power plants up. The great thing though is what energy you dont use you sell to the National Grid for profit. Bargain. Couple of extra links for you here and if you want to buy me one here.
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I can see how RIT can be powered by these things, especially taking into account all the wind that the place gets. Finally, everybody will stop complaining about the wind and will eventually appreciate it. It’s funny. Just ask your students to write a project on populirizing the power of wind. I’d love to have it here in Ukraine, taking into account that we are country No. 3 with the biggest number of coal miners’ deaths.
I’m not surprised the wind thing hasn’t been more popular. Here I am, living in the main stream of sunshine where it should be a no brainer to install solar panels, etc. But, guess what, it’s a real undertaking. There are a few(very) enterprising entreprenuers who do try but for the most part the cost is generally prohibitive for most of the population. Some of the higher end builders( and we all know the building situation these days) do include set-ups and connections for the “future” which is now??!! I’m doing my part by owning a Prius for 2 years and recycling!