Solar & Wind Power

OK. It was a thought. We figured that if it was financially feasible it would be worth investigating. The short answer, after reading 3 books and visiting a local "green store" the following conclusions have been drawn:

1. My preference: a micro turbine mounted on the garage.

Rationale: we live in an area with an annual average of 13.5 mph winds! Needed for operating a turbine: 9 mph annual average.

Downside: Turbines are LOUD and VIBRATE and must be mounted on a tower away from the house. I doubt we could get cleared for that by the zoning board and our neighbors would hate us. Also, we would need to dig another trench (not a big issue) AND (here's the "bite") buy a bank of batteries plus an inverter.


2. Feasible Option (according to our local green store operator): Grid Tied Solar.

Rationale: it is the most cost-effective option as no batteries are needed. The dial spins backwards when the sun shines and you are not using electricity and spins forward when your use exceeds your generation.

Downside: "Feasible" and "cost-effective" are very relative terms it turns out. A 2 kW system (average size) will produce about 1/3 of our annual electricity (optimistically). The cost, in the absence of state subsidies - which are all spent for this fiscal year, would be amortized over 38 years! We would be dead before we got a return on investment and THAT assumes that we didn't sell the house to "downsize" to a smaller house or move to a southern, less expensive location at retirement. With the subsidy the payback time drops to 25 years.

This is so not happening with saving for retirement, still supporting one child in college (Go, Deb!) and with two other children returning to college that we would like to help but simply lack the resources to do very much for them at the present time.

And that is all WITHOUT the battery bank that would keep the power on if the grid goes down.

So much for THAT good idea! This is nothing like our hybrid (Honda Civic 2005) car which has a payback on the hybrid expense of about 3 -5 years and an 8 year warranty on the battery pack.