Questions

Yay questions!

I hope no-one minds, but I've cut and pasted the questions and comments and I will try to address them as best I can.

First, from Batman

wow m, it's so nice to see you getting excited about alternative energy sources. i'm hoping to someday in the not-too-far future have a solar panel or two on the house. i have a lot more research to do but i would love to live "off the grid" though i do love modern conveniences that use lots of power unfortunately.do you know anything about the availability of wind turbines for domestic use? individuals can purchase small solar panels (the technology is modular) to help reduce their energy consumption from the grid. is this possible with wind turbines? do they have small turbines or is it just not economically worthwhile?

Batman, it is totally possible to live off-grid and not give up power hungry items like your fridge or TV (thougth maybe the 5x energy a plasma tv needs may be pushing it, then again, maybe not). I myself have visited a place just like that, they had everything a fancy house would have, and were off grid. they had a little turbine, some hydro (stream generated), solar panels and other natural helpers like passive solar heating an strawbale insulation. Anyway, you dont' have to have your own turbuine to have green energy. You can join or start a wind co-op, and take a share in green energy and even get financial returns from it.

Solar arrays are expensive to buy, but if you decide to do it, you can use the Standard Offer Contract or Net-Metering with Ontario, where you get money ack nn your investment. These things can be expensive, but are now (soon to be) way more accessible. You can join a co-op already formed, if you are allowed.

A small turbine can run you $20,000 so I'd recommend co-operatives anyways. Toronto has an urban wind turbine (the first in Canada) and it is very popular with locals and tourists.

I've seen a house that backs onto smyth road (near the riverside) with a wind turbine in the back yard. Mind you, I've never seen it turning, and it's nestled right in with the trees. They skipped the environmental assessment there, I think. I don't know about the actual turbine, but I would expect that there are bylaws restricting size/location of towers for mounting the generator to. Pretty sure it would fall under some of the laws for big-ass VHF TV antennas and towers. Try to throw one of those up in the suburbs and you're bound to have a visit from the Bylaw Officer.I was going to bring up birdkills and other drawbacks in the comments of your previous post but I was afraid you'd end up with pages of comments. Now that it's a separate post... fair game. So here's a Canadian question for you. Do the blades of a wind turbine (a large one, say) get clogged with snow and ice, and require de-icing like airplane wings do? I imagine that ice buildup is inevitable and would significantly affect operation. Any numbers?I've always wanted my own windmill but haven't really had the opportunity to think seriously about it. Maybe that will change. I really think that energy conservation is key, especially in industry. Regulating a few million people is hard and expensive. Regulating a few thousand industrial applications should be much more rewarding.

I have forwarded your questions to my pal's boyfriend, who runs the Canadian part of a large wind corporation, he will know more baout the ice and snow! i will get back to you on that, for sure.

While energy conservaiton in industry is definitely crucial, you'd be surprised at how many individuals don't feel like paying for energy! I'm not sure I understand your comment on regulating individuals, do you mena in influencing their energy conservation? If so, then wind co-ops are actually a business venture and not an act of volunteerism, there is money to be made in shares, it just happens that the product is green energy.

In order to erect your own small turbine, there may not be as much of an issues as you think. My wind-expert friend here says that many times people don't even notice the meteorological towes that go up to measure wind. Although, maybe that's not the case in Kanata :) Anyway, who says the turbine has to be in your backyard? Many farmers will sell/lease the land needed for a turbine, though usualy its for the bigger, massive million dollar ones. And actually, regular croping can continue as the actual footprint is very small.

In terms of general energy consevation, a project in California which gave every household 2 compact fluerescent lightbulbs ended up reducing consumption by some unbelievable amount, enough to significantly drop energy loads. I wish I had the numbers, but I can't find them. Please believe me, they were staggering.

As for drawbacks and issues with renewable energies, I am hapy to admit there are definitely some! I think that for me, the drawbacks so far don't campare with the risks and damages from coal and nuclear conventional energy sources. With the new Ontario legislation will make wind, solar, biogas and all sorts of renewables accessible in a way they never were.

Check out www.wind-works.org

Ontario's new legislation is said to be the most progressive energy legislation in North America in 2 decades.

Hmm, renewable fun for everyone! I'm happy that more people wil have access to these technologies, and possible even make money on them. It's nice to see that value is being placed on these things.

anyhoo, keep it coming if I haven't been clear or missed anything. Thanks for your input.

m