This is the news I like seeing

[Khalil]

What a smart guy, saved over 200k a year. Eat your hearts out scumbag utility companies

http://www.cnn.com/video/data/2.0/vi...power.cnn.html

[MaxRat]

Nice....very nice...

I always preach about breaking our dependance from big companies...

it seems like they have the attitude "we got it, you need it, and we know it..."

When I was living in my old house the heating bill was a little unbearable in the winter months...the bill would hit 800.00+ in the cold months and that was more than I could afford and that was heating an old 1860's home to 68f

so I did the next best thing...I designed and built on my own a wood burning water boiler then was installed inside the home...

I put water coils inside the existing furnaces and removed the gas...I heated water to 160f and pumped that to the cores and I kept the water a constant temp (easier to maintain the temp than to build it from a colder temp) and all I did was turn on the fans when I called for heat...

My winter heating bill went from 800.00 per month to 40.00 for the cost of the wood..

The local gas company had a real fit about it...but there was nothing they could do after I disconnected their supply lines from the furnace and I had it inspected and deemed safe for use...

Best part was buying 3 sheets of 1/4in steel and having it cut and I welded it and assembled the whole system and installed for 750.00 including renting a lift and sleeving the chimney...

[HAL9000]

There ya go.... I don't necessarily buy into the whole environmental craze that in my opinion, is nothing about making money... but here is somebody using waste in a positive manner.

[Khalil]

I was going to build my new house on a 2.5 acre lot inside town but then changed my mind because the city board fought me tooth and nail not to put in a wind generator. I since sold that lot and bought 7 acres 2 miles outside town where I am going to build my house next year so I can build it "my" way without idiots telling me what I can do and what I can't.
Half the roof will be entirely solar paneling, I am also installing 2 6000W Wind Generators. The total cost is about $58,000 a large oil company is going to fork out $23,000 of it, after all state and federal refunds I will be out around $11,000 from my own pocket.
Now do the math, the house is going to be almost 4000 sq/ft, my average utilities would run close to $500 a month on a house that size, that is $6000 a year, in less than 2 years it would more than pay for itself.
watch this cool video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GuhKp...layer_embedded

[HAL9000]

I question something that compact making any significant amount of power.

[MaxRat]

if you do that then you can use electric water heat...

water heat is the most efficient heat there is...geo-thermal runs a close second...

Originally Posted by HAL9000 I question something that compact making any significant amount of power.

I dont...

there are a couple of companies that make windmills and use GM alternators with extra chipping to deliver the right amount of power to the batteries...those are rated at 4500watts

they can output 120v easily on their own bypassing the regulator/rectifier...

[Khalil]

Originally Posted by HAL9000 I question something that compact making any significant amount of power.

Those generate as much as a 50 ft radious generator, thats like 18KW according to the company that makes them.

[vtfanmv5]

Electricity is a highly regulated industry. Perhaps you should contact your "scumbag" congressmen rather than the companies.

[HAL9000]

Originally Posted by MaxRat if you do that then you can use electric water heat... water heat is the most efficient heat there is...geo-thermal runs a close second... I dont... there are a couple of companies that make windmills and use GM alternators with extra chipping to deliver the right amount of power to the batteries...those are rated at 4500watts they can output 120v easily on their own bypassing the regulator/rectifier...

If that's the case, why are there not more of those instead of windmill farms? A little to contradictory if you ask me.

[Khalil]

I know what you mean but thats what they claim. I am not buying those, they are too expensive for my needs.

vtfanmv5 said:"scumbag" congressmen rather than the companies.

you got that right!

[MaxRat]

Originally Posted by HAL9000 If that's the case, why are there not more of those instead of windmill farms? A little to contradictory if you ask me.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oA1DV_0Y8-E

there is a start...I did a very quick search but when I was looking into this I found a company that sells these already done and will install them at your residence...all made with GM alternator...beings an alternator is just that Alternating current...

youtube is full of homebrew kits...

the windill is actually the easy part of the equation...the electric box and batteries is the hard part...

[mbossman2]

these are all great ideas but requires that the area have a steady wind and not every area has that.

in the case of the wind cube, they mostly get past that by mounting the windmill on top of a building where other buildings would have far less impact on the wind speed up there as they do to to ground wind speed.

it's a cool technology and if you can pull it off the more power to you.

[Force Flow]

Originally Posted by mbossman2 it's a cool technology and if you can pull it off the more power to you.

Pun intended?

[HAL9000]

Originally Posted by MaxRat http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oA1DV_0Y8-E there is a start...I did a very quick search but when I was looking into this I found a company that sells these already done and will install them at your residence...all made with GM alternator...beings an alternator is just that Alternating current... youtube is full of homebrew kits... the windill is actually the easy part of the equation...the electric box and batteries is the hard part...

Ok, that's just a video (I can find videos of perpetual motion machines too)... nothing stating what it is putting out for power.. and has been stated, given you have a pretty steady supply of wind. That thing is going to have to be spinning pretty good to produce any significant power considering on a car, the pully is less than half the size of the crank pully... heck, on my car it's a good third the size meaning that at a 1000 RPM idle, it's spinning at 3000 RPM... gonna take a pretty good breeze to run that. Not saying that can't happen with wind, but rather, how often? You also have to remember, as you generate power, you also develop a load, ever notice that if you boost somebody with a dead battery, as soon as you complete the connections, your engine loads up? Nothing is entirely free ya know. So as you spin up and try to develop any reasonable amount of power, it loads up and the smaller blades can only do so much.

I know smaller ones are available and do produce power such as this one at Canadian Tire. But lets look at the numbers. It takes almost 30Mph to develop the full 400w... not something you're going to get every day. A 12Mph average will only produce approx 50 watts or approx 38 kW per month (enough to run a lightbulb, or a few if you have some more efficient ones)... which at my electric rates will save me about $3.80 per month... now at $800 for this thing plus batteries and inverters... it's going to take some time to recover the cost. Even if I built it myself, again, it's going to take several years to recover anything. Take a 70 amp alternator... approx 14v output would create 980 watts at PEAK, 100% efficency... which you're NOT going to get.

[MaxRat]

man why do you always have to rain on my parade...

I guy can hope cant he...lol?

I know what you're saying though....

I would hope someday these get more refined and more efficient so we can break atleast some of the dependence... maybe?

[HAL9000]

Oh trust me... it rains on my parade too.... there is nothing that I would like more than to reduce my electric bill considering they've been raising our rates every 6-12 months.

[Khalil]

They raised it big time this year on businesses around here. The one that gets me is Natural Gas, it went 5 times in the last 2 years. Natural Gas is a local resource, we don't import it from Saudi so what the heck!! They don't transport gas, it comes through pre-existing pipe lines, some been around for 50 years or more, I can't figure out how they can get away with these price hikes.

[HAL9000]

That's what's strange here... Natural gas keeps going DOWN... I'm on an equalized payment plan so I pay the same amount year round and after 12 months, it gets balanced out. For power, I pay $200 per month... gas I pay $85 and now with my new windows and siding insulation, my gas usage is down by 90 cubic meters... so next years payment will be going down again.

[David M]

I know it seems bizarre, but the price of natural gas really is determined by supply and demand..and somewhat by the Wall Street commodities markets....which essentially make guesses at future prices which can move current prices... (if that makes any sense). Ultimately though speculation catches up to reality (actual supply and demand).

[Floppyman]

For those that hedged natural gas prices and then got burned by the commodities bubble bursting in 2008, don't feel so bad. There is significant contango in the natural gas forwards curve out to 2011 or so. Prices should rebound.

We don't import much natural gas from the middle east, if any. However, LNG terminals are being build in the U.S. as well - so this may very well change down the road. Qatar, for one, sits on absolutely vast natural gas reserves that are primarily sold into the global markets in the form of LNG.