Energy in the wind
By Brandy Nance (Contact)
Originally published 01:00 p.m., May 22, 2008
Updated 01:00 p.m., May 22, 2008
Photo by Adam Vogler
Keeping ahead of the energy curve, Norman Triemer, above, and his wife Vicky have added a wind turbine to provide electricity to their rural Lyon County home. The couple already had an energy-efficient ground-source heating and cooling system.
Rural residents Norman and Vicky Triemer are harnessing the power of the Kansas winds to help cut their utility bills.
The Triemers live off Americus Road on Highway 56 and have had their home windmill since December 2007. So far, the Triemers have seen their utility bill go down by about a third.
Norman Triemer said they purchased their turbine from a company in Ontario. With winds more than 17 mph Tuesday morning, the turbine was cranking out the power. By 9 a.m. it had generated about 6.8 kilowatt hours of electricity. Triemer could tell this by a box located in the barn. The box is hooked into the main power grid with the local power company and has a computer reading on the outside that tells how much power has been generated that day as well as how much power has been generated since they’ve had the unit. So far, the Triemer turbine has generated about 2,120 kilowatt hours of electricity and saved the atmosphere about 37,651 pounds of carbon dioxide. Triemer said any excess power generated that the family doesn’t use gets returned to the grid and the power company purchases it at the current wholesale price.
Even though the wind machine is saving the Triemers money, it will take about 10 years for the turbine to generate enough electricity to pay for itself, Triemer said.
“It really cost more getting it up that I figured it would,” he said, as he stood near the turbine as its vanes turned in the wind.
Bob McBroom, owner of Kansas Wind Power in Holton, has been in the wind business since 1975. McBroom said before people begin making their own power, they first should see where they are using their power. On his Web site, www.kansaswindpower.net, McBroom offers a kilowatt meter. The meter monitors appliances to see how much power is being used.
“I always encourage people to do that first before they make their own power because you don’t want to waste it,” he said. “People need to try to be efficient before making their own power ... most homes waste about 20 percent of their power and (homeowners) don’t know it.”
McBroom said there are several models of wind machines available and they are available with or without batteries. The models that have batteries will charge any time the wind is blowing.
“Without batteries, it’s regular wind power,” he said. “If the power goes off the wind machines will also shut down and you’ll be without power.”
The SkyStream model is the easiest for many people, McBroom said.
“If the wind speed is average (a little over 12 miles per hour) it’s capable of producing about 400 kilowatts a month,” he said. “If it’s less, it’ll produce less ... and it might produce as much as 600 to 800 kilowatt hours ... an average home, if it’s efficient, would use that kind of power.”
However, homes that have electric heat and electric hot water will use more power, McBroom said.
“But if you’re careful you can whittle that down,” he said. “You should always look at the heating and cooling system.”
McBroom said installation of wind machines is key.
“As far as mounting then you want to locate them away from buildings and trees and property lines,” he said.
The higher the turbine, the better the wind, McBroom said.
“The wind is stronger with heights and it’s less turbulent,” he said. “Even on open ground, the higher you go, the more power you can make.”
While there are many benefits to owning a wind machine, it is not for all home owners.
“For the average homeowner, a lot of times you don’t have the room to put in a tower, or there’s sometimes people who don’t like the looks of them or the sound,” McBroom said. “Some of them make more sound than others and some make less. If you have a close neighbor, they may not appreciate that.”
For people who can’t own a wind machine or even for those who do, simple common sense can be applied to save energy and money.
“I encourage people to use a clothes line with they can (to dry clothes),” McBroom said.
The wind turbine isn’t the only energy-efficiency effort the Triemers have made. They also have a geothermal heating and cooling system, Norman Triemer said. Air is run through a few feet of buried pipe where either heats it or cools it — depending on the time of year — and is circulated back into the home.
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Posted by wirewatt (anonymous) on May 22, 2008 at 6:53 p.m. (Suggest removal)
The heating and air conditioning system they installed is saving them more money than any wind generation will ever save. The battery system is the best system and if has to feed the home by using a inverter to change the power for direct voltage to 120 volts for home usage. The savings of 2120 kilowatt hours is not much of savings. The savings would be at five cents a kilowatt hour of $106.00, however what is not being told is that the wind generator requires 240 volt power to it and uses power to keep the unit in phase with the power line. We have yet to see a unit that will pay enough to pay for its self, let a lone make a profit for the average home owner. This sure sounds good but I really doubt the homeowner will ever save enough money to pay for his investment in twenty years. Then along comes an ice storm and puts the whole thing on the ground, and if true to other people who put them up they don't replace them.
Posted by gr8ggogli (anonymous) on May 23, 2008 at 6:38 a.m. (Suggest removal)
yeah wirewatt. yer right. since we can't solve the entire problem let's not do anything at all.
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