Category talk:Renewable electricity
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Solar Energy via solar panels and wind energy via homemade wind turbines can reduce your personal energy usage
[edit]Ways To Save Energy
With climbing fuel costs, massive unemployment, and pollution problems faced by many large cities, most Americans have more than one reason to save electricity. Contrary to most beliefs, homeowners don’t need to invest in expensive solar energy systems or residential wind turbines to save significantly on electricity costs. Most people can reduce their electricity bill dramatically by implementing these simple energy conservation techniques.
Heating and cooling are by far the highest users of electricity in the average household. This should be your first line of defense when tackling high energy bills. Installing a programmable thermostat to control the temperature of your home can be a great low cost method to reduce your energy consumption dramatically.A programmable thermostat will allow you to automatically raise your home’s temperature in the summer by a few extra degrees while everyone is scheduled to be away. By the same token, you can use a programmable thermostat to lower the temperature a few extra degrees while everyone is away in the winter. The great thing about a programmable thermostat is you can set it to bring your home back to the normal temperature just before everyone is scheduled to be back home.
The washer and dryer are two other large energy consumers in the average American home. Remember to wash and dry full loads to minimize the use of these appliances. You should also consider swapping to the latest low energy models if your current set is more than a decade old. The latest models have all sorts of new features that not only reduce electricity consumption, but also reduce the water consumption as well.
The kitchen is another room that uses a lot of electricity. Purchase a small toaster oven and use it as much as possible. Cooking meals in a toaster oven uses significantly less electricity than a full size oven.Let your dishes air dry in the dish washer instead of using the dry cycle, and always run this appliance with full loads only.
Compact fluorescent lights are another low cost method of saving significant amounts of electricity. Most CFL bulbs are reasonably priced, have a long life span, and give an equivalent amount of life as a traditional incandescent bulb. Yet they use only a fraction of the electricity as a standard bulb. For less than the cost of a dinner for two, most people can outfit their entire home with these low energy light bulbs and save a bundle.
You should implement all of these low cost techniques before considering more expensive strategies that involve turbines and solar panels. Most people will find they can reach their energy goals without the need of these more expensive and complex alternatives. Lower your electricity costs with these easy to implement low cost techniques.
http://renewableenergy0.com/ —Preceding unsigned comment added by 78.191.225.64 (talk) 19:17, 27 June 2010 (UTC)
Homemade Wind TurbinesItalic text Commercial or homemade wind turbines are one of the most reliable sources of alternative energy on the planet. They are made for producing power by converting wind energy into mechanical energy, which is then either used directly (in the case of wind turbines, for example, which have been used to modify the wheat into flour, or to pump Water for agriculture) or coupled to a generator that creates a DC output which can be used in a more general sense. In this article I will talk about the type of turbines that produce electricity, which would be most helpful to us in our daily lives.
Wind turbines are basically big windmills, with huge blades that rotate in the wind and generate power from the conversion of wind strength. The turbines are made of plastic, aluminum, steel and many other metals of the space age.
Wind turbines have a few negative impacts on the environment. They are very visible and very unsightly as they must be placed close to the wind, the terrain to be helpful – trying to locate offshore has been successfully achieved. They require a lot of energy in their manufacture, energy is usually of fossil origin, and so it may take a long time before they are positive in terms of total carbon emissions – this time may be two to five years. The turbines are linked to injuries in birds that can be mutilated as they pass through the turbine fans during migration passages.
With all the drawbacks aside, homemade wind turbines should be a choice when it comes to a comprehensive plan for renewable energy. Once built, the turbines are surprisingly effective in a broader sense – they generate electricity from a renewable resource friendly environment, without the hidden social or environmental penalties that we incur with the use of fossil fuels – there’s no need for mining or for fuel for transport – there is no global warming pollutants created, and no need to store, treat or eliminate toxic waste.
At the small end of the scale such as a homemade wind turbine, the turbines can be as small as 5 feet in diameter some times less if needed for portability to use in a RV (Recreational Vehicle) and are capable of only a few hundred watts or less. On the high end of the spectrum, the turbines can be as large as three hundred feet in diameter and are capable of generating two to five megawatts of electricity.
Similar to the production of photovoltaic solar electricity, there may be discounts available for construction and there may also be government grants to subsidize purchase or construction, and excess energy can be sold to the utility companies.