Comments on: Windspire: Propeller-Free Household Turbine Gets Approval

By: Alexandra

Alexandra — Tue, 04 Oct 2011 17:29:51 +0000

This piece was a lfieacjket that saved me from drowning.

By: Brother Donald Paul

Brother Donald Paul — Sat, 17 Jul 2010 10:51:03 +0000

Sadly, these turbines do not work at all. We are the proud owners of $14,000 worth of non producing Windspires. In sixteen months of usage, the largest amount of electricity produced was a whopping .80 worth. That’s right, EIGHTY CENTS. We have attempted to work with the company on obtaining functioning replacements for over a year, all to no avail. Although the various company representatives insist they will make good and replace their “defective” (their words, not mine) turbines and inverters, they have been unable and/or unwilling to do so. I cannot recommend this product or this company. Run, do not walk, but run away from this fiasco. Caveat emptor!

By: Lou Tipple

Lou Tipple — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 03:14:28 +0000

Yes! something that that enables me to see telly when Im not in the uk!

By: steve roe

steve roe — Sun, 31 May 2009 14:46:26 +0000

what is the lowest cost, for a home with installation in the texas area corpus christi tx.

By: Neil

Neil — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 14:50:40 +0000

No shadows? Both photos clearly show shadows being cast by the spire.

In the left photo the bottom ring of the spire is casting a crescent-shaped shadow on the inverted cup at the top of the mast that the spire is mounted on.

In the right photo the spire and mast are casting a clearly visible shadow to the right starting at the base of the mast.

By: Neil

Neil — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 21:59:06 +0000

No shadows? I can clearly see shadows in both photos.

In the left photo there is a crescent-shaped shadow on the inverted cup at the top of the pole holding the spire.

In the right photo the sun is shining from the left. The rocks are casting shadows to the right. The pole holding the spire is also casting a shadow to the right.

But what would a lack of shadows prove? That the photographer used a flash during the day time to eliminate shadows? That is a common practice when photographing people in the sun to eliminate harsh shadows and reduce the contrast of a photo.

By: me

me — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 15:31:48 +0000

That pic is photoshopped. No shadows on the turbine. doh!

By: Neil

Neil — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 18:17:17 +0000

In my opinion the green movement has repeatedly shot itself in the foot. Initially it seems like a great idea to promote a green technology by calculating how much money will be saved in a certain number of years. “This investment will pay for itself in X years. After that, you start earning money.”

It’s nice, when that actually happens. But what if it doesn’t pay off in an amount of time considered to be a good investment? With this mentality, the decision maker decides not to do what would be good for the environment, people and animals.

With our economy in the state it’s currently in, there are a lot of people (including myself) that are struggling to stay alive. They are having to watch every dollar they spend and my following comments may not apply to them. But think about those that have a decent job. Are all of their decisions based on the cost of something?

We could take food for lunch to work each day and save perhaps $5 or more a day. That comes out to about $100 a month. Many choose the more expensive restaurant option. Why? They like the food, the convenience or the atmosphere. The monetary issue is not an issue for them.

Consider the cars people purchase. They could buy a Prius for $22,000 and save a lot of gas. But many choose to pay much more:
Lexus ES 350: $35,000
Mercedes C300: $35,000
Cadillac CTS: $40,000
Corvette: $50,000
Hummer H2: $60,000
Are any of these decisions based on payback? No car salesman would base his pitch on the idea that the car would pay for itself in a certain number of years. And no buyer even considers that possibility. These more expensive cars are bought because of greater comfort, aesthetics, prestige or performance. Cars depreciate quickly in just a few years. A large part of the purchase price is lost. They are often much more expensive to maintain and repair. But that doesn’t prevent people that can afford them from buying those cars. People are very willing to put out a lot of money on something they like, for whatever reason that is in each case. How many people love the idea of their neighbors seeing them leaving and returning in their expensive car?

Is it not equally feasible that some people might get the same feeling about having a solar water heater or photovoltaic system on their roof or a wind turbine in their backyard? “Look at us. We’ve got the latest technology to produce all our own electricity. We aren’t polluting the air. We aren’t sending our money to the arabs to buy oil to produce electricity. We helped create jobs here in the US. We don’t have to worry about future electricity price increases because we included it in our home mortgage when the home was built and our mortgage is fixed for 30 years.”

Including a wind turbine, photovoltaic or pico hydroelectric system for $30,000 in the purchase of your new home would increase your mortgage by $180 a month. (At 6% interest a fixed 30-year mortgage costs $6 a month for each $1,000). If your electric bill would otherwise have been $100 a month, the green choice is only costing you $80 a month extra. There are a lot of people that could afford that extra expense. And as electricity rates go up in the next 30 years, the difference comes down further.

The greens should stop shooting themselves in the foot. Stop making a financial payback the major (or only) focus in making green decisions. Money is not the top priority for everyone. There are other issues that are important to a lot of people and their numbers are increasing as they learn about the other issues: health for humans and animals, job creation, protection of the environment, balance of trade deficit due to imports of oil, preservation of natural resources that have better uses than just being burned, energy independence, global warming, the prestige that early adopters enjoy and the good feeling some people get from knowing that they have made a decision that is good in some way.

I look forward to the time when articles like this one about a wind turbine act as a catalyst for a discussion of other relevant issues. Wind turbines only produce electricity if the wind is strong enough. Does it blow year round or only during a portion of the year? How many tons of carbon dioxide aren’t released into the atmosphere with an annual production of 1800 kilowatt hours? Who is testing wind turbines under identical conditions and comparing the results regarding the lowest wind speed to produce electricity, output at various speeds, noise produced and cost? Who is providing financing for green improvements to homes?

By: democracymmmk

democracymmmk — Sun, 15 Feb 2009 05:56:46 +0000

Selfishness is a disease of the mind? What would your cured mind and your cured world look like?

By: Rusty Waters

Rusty Waters — Sat, 14 Feb 2009 20:50:37 +0000

Looking 4 Green Citizens, the Few the Proud the…..
The discussion are informative and as I endeavor to become better informed, about all the issues above.
i.e. environmental payback VS the personal payback schema
There’s this mind set that has to be overcome initially about all this. CHANGE,
it doesn’t seem to register, especially those who can afford an assortment of personal items collected over the years, let’s use 10 yrs as an example.
Purchases, including but not limited: SUV, Boats, motorcycles just to ring bells and blow whistles, some exceeding 25K and financed at 5-18 percent over time and depreciate in the first year 12-20- 30% ?? This is the mind set to overcome because for the most part its the equivalent to most common systems that integrate one or more of these alternative resources. Not only do they add value your home or business,but in the bigger sense, your becoming better stewards of the big blue marble we call EARTH.
However, no one blinks and eye at these purchases and many spend a year and a considerable amount of time with car sales people, shopping until the market is right to buy. While some just buy on credit (the instant gratification genre)
I close with that in mind, when will we get it, when will people understand and get to that point in co~generation co~operative Coalitions, where Co~investment owned affordable resources are at the forefront of our nations leaders and our citizens in our communities respectfully/
Don’t wait for your GOvernment to come up with solution, you all can make those decision in your own community now. Waiting has proven to become a legislative death process, as one person after another group defines all we treasure in their effort to stall out time after time, and it continues to be focal point for more Americans dying in Vain of reducing / Controlling efforts to stay Grid tied & Gagged ?
If we survive the next industrial age in using Alternative energy resources and someone is still around, it will be a story of the few, the proud, the citizens who stood united to bring about change for affordable renewable DO-able alternative resources. Or it will be a story of how citizens pitifully refused to invest in our EARTH’s future, and its natural resources and we wasted our valuable time on trickery and small trinkets of self worth.
Become an advocate for affordable renewable resources in your community, be it on line or more effectively actually doing something physically, financially investing to support and bring about these causes.
The IOWA community did just that in 2007 and got a 3-1 return on their investment, making those changes that brought about energy effiecientcy, wow when was the last time you personally had a ROI like that in the Stock market.
Selfishness is a disease of the mind and it kills our spirit in unity. I can’t tell you how often it sickens me to see people siting in their SUV’s with engines running for half an hour or more while in a parking lot talking on their cell phone. While the young and old Veterans return to the theater of war a number of times to face attack after attack, for what, for your principles, for what then, ask your self and decide what needs to happen in in each of us, in your little corner of the world for you to overcome the mentality of change, to think about all we hold sacred and treasure ?
People are dying over seas for people like you who sit there nice and warm, people swore an oath of allegiance to protect your way of life.