I think we All need a wind turbine, then we .....

...wouldn`t need proPAIN!!!....any TURbine experts out there. Start up costs?!?....GAS

I always laugh at the turbines that just sit there dead in the water..... until I drive by and they"re just flying!! Don"t laugh then.

The problems I see with wind and solar electric isn't the start up as much as it is the long term costs. Yeah, it's expensive to start, especially the batteries. You can direct meter back to the grid, but they pay you what it costs THEM to produce the power and they don't give you anything on the delivery cost. So I don't see a huge savings unless the system lasts for decades and you do too. If you have a storage system, well, batteries are real expensive and sooner of later EPA or someone is going to notice all that Haz Mat sitting there. So I'm a little ambivalent about the whole deal. I admit, I'd like a wind mill just to have it though.

If your complaining about proPAIN, then heat is your issue. My friend, wood or coal, depending on where you live, are still good choices. We heat almost exclusively with wood. One room has propane and if I can ever swing a wood boiler that will be gone too. Even wood pellets are an option that's better than facing rising propane/fuel oil/electric costs.

Couple of years ago my county took a look and decided they were ugly. They restricted the height so severely to be not worth installing here. I even had potential trouble with my old windmill being too tall, but it is agricultural. Also very difficult for anyone to see.

Your real issue is needing cheap heat. If you greatly reduce your need, you will find that far cheaper. My house is 96% solar heated. 100% if we didn"t mind putting on a sweater on real cold evenings. We like a woodstove, so long as we don"t need much wood for it.

Gilbert
I looked into putting a wind turbine in a couple of years ago. I am located in good area for a site. The initial set up costs were around $20,000. With the cost of our electric bill, i'd be long gone before the cost would be effective.

From what I've read about turbines they aren't really cost effective and you need a significant average wind speed.

If you're looking for alternative power solar is a better option. But solar might not be cost effective unless you live in a state that requires electric companies to pay you what they charge for electricity, as opposed to what it costs them to produce it. That's assuming a grid tied system. If you go off grid you'll spend a fortune on batteries. Like Brett said sooner or later the EPA is going to take a hard look at batteries.
My BIL in CA looked into a grid tied solar system. He'll eventually go that route because electric rates are so high there.

You'd probably be money ahead to make your house more energy efficient. Energy efficient windows, quality insulated entry doors, add insulation to your attic.
Plant some evergreen trees for a wind break.
Maybe even upgrade your heating system. Look into a higher efficiency propane furnace or better yet look into geo thermal.

Or, buy your propane in June.

Initial cost coupled with short life expectancy makes those wind turbines one of the least efficient means for producing electricity.

Maybe Eric Clapton could do a benefit concert and sing a reworked song called.... "Propane"..... might be a big hit lol.

MN is a State whose legislature mandated that power companies pay retail for wind generated power. That makes no sense- they are mandated to provide the infrastructure (ie poles, lines, xformers, distr system) and pay retail for the power......where is the profit in doing that. Turbines aren"t in the cities- they"re in rural (REA) areas, so we co-op members have to subsidize Metro for their green ideas!

I really should keep my mouth shut on this but since I'm very interested in renewable energy I won't.
To do it right cost a great amount of $$. However nobody says you have to jump in with both feet at once. I spent over the course of a couple years about $300 and have at least lights in garage in case of power outage. No it's not a great amount of power but at least I can see. I have a lot of learning to do yet. I did make some emergency lighting in the house using LEDs and some cereal bowls.
One far, far "outa the box" thinking I have is if you take a large tank (old milk tanker??) insulated greatly, bury it (build a 'house' around it?) with piping running to/from tank to solar collectors, use a small solar powered pump to move the solution during the summer months while the sun is best. Then come cooler/colder weather another set of pipes running from tank to house hooked to some sort radiator in-line with furnace blower or hook this to solar/turbine to run fan and at least during good daylight and/or windy conditions there would be something warm coming into house.
R.O.I. for this idea I cant fathom!!! But it can be done.
Check out builditsolar dot com. He is located in Maryland however one link he has shows someone in Finger Lakes region of NY made solar collectors and is pumping very warm air into his place when ever the sun shows.

Geothermal is a better faster choice.

From what I have seen.Working on the large ones. To the home models. They are not worth it. Start up cost can put a dent in your wallet.Repair cost can be another problem. Brake failure can be a danger. Depending on what model you have. There are four small ones around my town. All shut down within a year.Cost to much to maintain.

If you want to see one flying.I was at a site when the brake failed on one.Spinning so fast it tore itself apart.Cleared everyone out of the site.

If you had winds like we had last night the over speed brake would have been on far more of the time then it would have been producing power. One of the main problem with wind power is you have it one day but not the next

Here is an exerpt from a 5-2012 article on wind turbines. This start-up company in SW WI is replacing gearboxes/bearings. They said they could keep busy without any more increases in numbers of new turbines. They use TIMKEN bearings in some of the gearboxes.

NOTE the remark about propane gas....funny if compared to the current propane situation.

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"But given federal budget challenges and the low price of natural gas, there's pressure to stop subsidies for wind power, including a federal production tax credit."

"From our perspective, there are over 26,000 megawatt-class wind turbines already installed, and that's really our market"

Tim

If you see some stopped, while others are turning.....stopped units are unwinding. That"s no joke- the ones we see in MN have cables from top, down to the ground. They carry the electricity being produced, and the turbines follow the wind direction, up til they"ve made 4 revolutions. Then the computer shuts them down and unwinds the cable to prevent damage from twisting. Then they restart and follow the wind again.