Small Turbines Bring Wind Power Home

Image via WikipediaWind speed varies by and from season to season. Wind is strongest in cold-weather months when electricity demand is also at its peak, so variability tends to mirror demand.

Fortunately for the small or hobby farmer, many of the best wind sites are in remote locations. Good sites for wind farms are the tops of hills, open plains, shorelines, and mountain gaps that cause wind to be funneled through a ravine.

The states with the most wind production are Texas, California, Iowa, Minnesota, and Oklahoma. The states with the most wind energy potential are North Dakota, South Dakota, Montana, Texas, and Kansas.

North Dakota alone has the potential to produce enough wind-generated power to meet more than one-fourth of U.S. demand.

Wind farms produce no pollution, greenhouse gases or toxic wastes. Wind is renewable, reliable and efficient and now affordable. It is compatible with other land uses and can boost rural economic development for farmers who lease their land.

Wind energy offsets emissions from other energy sources. In 2006, US wind turbines offset 30 billion pounds of carbon dioxide, 76,000 tons of sulfur dioxide, and 36,000 tons of nitrogen oxides by generating clean electricity.

Even if turbine production is included in assessing wind energy's "footprint", it still has 99% less CO2 emissions than coal and 98% than natural gas.

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How To Build and Use A Solar Oven

Image by BreadnBadger via FlickrSolar ovens are cheap and easy to make and operate. I have been using solar ovens for two decades now, constructed from not much more than cardboard boxes and aluminum foil.

Cardboard ovens don't last forever, but they're so easy to make that I don't mind have to replace my old one every couple years.

I have even made a solar oven from an old pizza box, aluminum foil and saran wrap in a pinch. These are definitely not durable, but great to use in the short-term such as during a picnic or when you're camping. Just think, no stinky charcoal or lighter fluid to lug along!

For those who are looking for something that will last a long time (or if you simply don't have the time or temperment to make your own solar cooker, there are many commercial models available for purchase.

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Why Consider Solar Power?

 

 

Certain materials have a property known as the photoelectric effects. This property allows them to absorbs photos of sunlight and release electrons. Capture of these free electrons results in an electric current. Through photovoltaics, light is converted directly into electricity.

Solar power can be produced by heat engines or photovoltaics. Some applications for solar technologies include heating and cooling, potable water through distillation and disinfection, hot water, thermal energy for cooking and process heat for industrial purposes.

Solar energy can be scaled to individual use (such as solar cookers or rooftop panels used to heat a home), to communities, or to industry in the deployment of solar concentrating power arrays.

Solar technologies are characterized as either passive or active. Active uses photovoltaic panels or solar thermal collectors to convert solar energy to electrical energy.

Passive solar techniques include orienting a building to the sun, selecting materials with thermal properties and designing buildings that take advantage of natural properties of insolation.

Deriving energy from solar power is 85 times more efficient than growing corn for ethanol. On a single plot of land, enough ethanol can be produced to drive a car 30,000 miles per year. If the same acreage was covered with photos cells, the car could be driven 2,500,000 miles per year.

Solar power has been developed since the 1950s. This technology has advanced due to its use in the space industry. The energy crisis in the 1970s brought the idea of using solar power to provide electricity for individuals and industries on Earth to the forefront.

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