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On Thu, 23 Apr 2009, Tom Potts wrote:
On Thursday 23 April 2009 08:45, Gordon Henderson wrote: ...http://www.lowtechmagazine.com/2009/04/small-windmills-test-results.html Personally I'm not convinced about wind generation on a small scale. Small wind generators are noisy, although if I do find an old one from a yachtThats what inspired me to do the much much much cheaper design and yachts aren't that noisy sailwise either so I hope this design wont be. I did microchip design for 10 years and I'm convinced you can do grid connected inverters for ~£100 for the controller and £50 per KVA on top (coppers expensive!) and while this may not be pretty its a lot prettier than a nuclear power station avoiding decommissioning charges by being swamped by sea level rise.
If you can get grid-tie kit down to that price, a lot of other generation methods may become viable - the current lot seem to start round about the £900 mark for a 1KW unit...
Eg. http://www.navitron.org.uk/product.php?proID=106
The simple - as shown - version may not be efficient but cheap, other changes like autotensioning the sails to get the most out of low wind speeds and mass produced high efficiency alternators means you should be able to get 3 or 400 watts on average on the average house most days.
Just don't try it on Dartmoor if it's at all visible )-: Gordon (Who lives just inside Dartmoor NP)
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