Saturday, April 25, 2015

Some stuff is out of reach

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This post goes into the Power and Electricity subseries of the off-the-grid main series of posts.

One thing I really like about wind energy is that it can be potentially a lot of power from a little device.  Let's say one is rated at a maximum of 400 watts.  If it can do that for an entire day, that's .4 kwh x 24 hr = 9.6 kwh of power.  Not bad for such a little device.  It can beat the pants off of solar.

The downside of wind has been noted in an earlier post.  It has moving parts that can fail.  It has to be mounted in a high place, which requires some skills which may cost some money to obtain, or obtained the hard way by doing yourself.  Sometimes the equipment isn't up to par in terms of quality.

What would I do with the wind?  What is so enticing about it, after all?  I figured that I can make water with all that power.  I could recycle my grey water.  I could use a dehumidifier to pull it out of the atmosphere.  If the wind really does blow hard enough out there, my water worries could be a thing of the past.

You have to look at it both angles and decide whether of not this is worth it.  It may not be, for there may be an easier way to get water.

Another consideration is the cost.  Looks like something over a thousand for the parts for a system that could produce 1 kwh per day of electricity in a 13 mph wind.  That just may be feasible out there.

It's hard to make a judgment without the practical experience behind it.  If only my solar system worked out there, then I might at least have some idea of what can be done.


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