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Syndicate
...you're puttin' us on with this geographically challenged observation. It doubles as your comment on not just property values but also human values in the Big Smoke. As observed from a smaller community tired of Hogtown's carryin' on... Subtle.
I'm glad someone commented on my little jest.
It goes back to a discussion we had here some years ago, when our ruralv members were complaining about windmills, and I said something like, well, it's green power and you live where the wind is. Just a fact of geography.
But they pointed a few things out to me that I hadn't thought of. The on shore/off shore breezes that make the Port Burwell area farm viable is the same phenomena that blows through the GTA all the time.
And when you consider much of the power is used in Toronto, and that we lose a significant percentage of generated electricity over the transmission lines, it makes no sense to locate a windfarm in Shelburne or Dundalk to power the GTA, when the GTA has lots and lots of wind.
I know windmills are not aesthetically pleasing, on a lake view that everyone in Toronto is trying to block with Condo developements. But if it's ugly and unwanted in Toronto, it's ugly and unwanted in Dundalk.
[major thread drift]
Are they (the seeds) available in a version that will poison the damn rodents but leave the birds unharmed? If the damn rodents would actually eat what they are damaging I wouldn't hate them as much. I have nothing against birds. I have nothing against rodents per se, just damn squirrels who uproot and damage everything in the garden with no intetion of actually eating any of it. And please, no helpful advice on how to "discourage" them - tried most, they don't work... I am quite satisfied they (squirrels) are not endangered, and am more than willing to accept the karmic burden of wishing them dead. Actually, I am quite willing to accept the karmic burden of actually making them dead... but use of a pellet gun is not legal within the city limits, and I do not want to use an indiscriminate measure that might harm any other creature.
[If someone had a semi-domesticated predator like a pine marten I could rent.... well you get the idea]
[/major thread drift]
I think that they should build the wind towers on the tops of buildings in the cities. It would obviously require more structural support but it would remove a lot of transmission lines from the equation. I think engineers could work out any bugs and then the power would be near where its needed and not in any ones sight lines.
Not a bad idea, assuming they won't cause health issues.
Three, 40-metre long blades whirling in a stiff wind would still be distracting, k. Hair raising, actually.
bk, I have found the long-haired rodents will leave other things be if they have sunflower seeds. A couple of blacks and a gray have grown to a mob of 4 blacks and three grays in the month I have been feeding, so far (word gets around). I feed them probably a quarter-found of seed on the ground, each day, along with white millet for the hard-working, underrated house sparrows and fat doves(the American tree sparrows, and juncos et al will come later with the snow, hereabouts).
Two feeders are kept full of the black sunflower seeds, and they are off limits to the squirrels...ostensibly. But there is always a squirrely squirrel that wants to cheat, and has to be persuaded. For a couple of winters i've left the screen off an upstairs bedroom window that can be quietly opened to accommodate a slingshot loaded with BBs. The bluejays (smart birds) knew this was mostly bluff, so I had to invest in a "Daisy" BB gun (had one as a lad). I do not aim to harm, but am still a damned good shot at 50 feet and can bounce the BB off the ground in front of them. It travels slowly enough so you can follow the flight of the BB. Haven't seen a bluejay in two weeks now (but I'm sure they are bullying the birds at another feeder in the subdivision). You too can regain control of your garden. :)
I'm picturing them on top of the really big buildings in downtown TO, whirling away....cool!
I'm no engineer - how about one on top of the CN tower??
I saw a so-called community meeting was organized in Woodstock, Ontario. When I googled the organizers? Nuclear associations. I once attended a public consultation meeting organized by the province on energy choices and the pro-nukes crowd were out in force and well organized. Take a grain of salt with your wind horror stories.
And please, no helpful advice on how to "discourage" them - tried most, they don't work... I am quite satisfied they (squirrels) are not endangered, and am more than willing to accept the karmic burden of wishing them dead. Actually, I am quite willing to accept the karmic burden of actually making them dead... but use of a pellet gun is not legal within the city limits, and I do not want to use an indiscriminate measure that might harm any other creature.
We are kindred spirits, on the subject of urban squirels, Bagkitty. I think a pellet gun is only illegal in the city if you get caught. The problem with a pellet gun is that I get conflicting advice on whether it will deliver a kill shot. I get emphatic yes's to doubtfull I doubt it's. Plus, my own limited experience with pellet guns is that the gas canister types quickly loose muzzle velocity after just a few shots. Maybe the first couple of shots are capable of killing, and the rest just a nice reminder not to tarry in your yard.
Of course, as a CAW member whose been through a strike or two, I've learned that a good sling shot with a ball bearing would probably rip a squirel in two. I've seen them accomplish other things.
The problem with all this, whether you're talking squirells, raycuns (for all you Trailer Park Boys fans) and skunks is that as quickly as you dispatch them, thier neighbors fill the void. Unless you're bloodthirsty enough to exterminate on a city wide basis, you're probably wasting your time even with the direct approach.
A friend of mine traps skunks, and in two years he's got 17. None of which, according to his on going study, that have evolved gills.
George makes a good point about sunflower oil seed. I use that in a metal silo feeder, and while the squirels can get at the seed, it's fairly labour intensive for them, and they don't bother unless they are really hungry I gather. And, the wee birds, like chicadees and finches and stuff love them. You might also try thistle seed in a silo feeder. Finches like it, and squirels don't.
I think that they should build the wind towers on the tops of buildings in the cities. It would obviously require more structural support but it would remove a lot of transmission lines from the equation. I think engineers could work out any bugs and then the power would be near where its needed and not in any ones sight lines.
I saw a report some time ago about a guy in Chicago who developed a wind turbine for roof tops. It wasn't a tower with props type, but some cylindrical gyzmo. I think some ferrings on the roof edge served to amplify the wind, and something about the design meant that the cylinder could take advantage of any wind direction without having to orient itself to the wind. Sorry, I wish I remembered more, but I don't even remember enough to search this out.
That would be a vertical mounting, spinning on vertically oriented bearings, TP. They did not have must luck with them in earlier trials (their advantage would be not taking up much space) but the bearings broke down from so much weight on them. Hence the horizontal mountings we see). Putting todays turbines on a roof would require a wind-vane mounting that turned according to wind direction, and that would require enormous supports for roof and the entire structure. Can't see it taking off (architecturally speaking).
In most of Canada you probably can forget about mounting a windmill on your roof, since the builtup of ice on the rotors is a real probability at some time during the winter. I sure do not want to be near a rotor that sweeps an area of an acre or so when the ice starts coming off.
Whoops. The Globe's international businesstoday features the Pearl River Tower, a monstrous 70 story building rising in Gangzhou that is "slated to become one of the world's most energy-efficient office buildings."
"Two floors of the tower will have wind turbines built inside; the building is designed to funnel the prevailing winds in through openings in its walls to keep the turbines running." When the wind blows, one assumes. And one Qin Youguo, profesor in the school of architecture at Beijing's Tsinghua University, says "being green here means the technology helps people in harmony with nature in a low-energy and sustainable way." And "What works as green technology in another country may not be green in China if it doesn't fit the situation here." He criticizes many of the projects so far as, in the words of the Globe's correspondent, "showpieces with little real impact."
We'll see, I guess.
This month's Popular Science (page 74) has a very brief overview of the new Honeywell Wind Turbine, which costs $5500
but which eliminates the problems of noise, bulk, and inconsistent winds - it operates in as low as 2 mph winds. No gears - the turbine itself is the electrical generator. The total unit weighs 165 pounds. With the cost being what it is, I suspect this will be sold mostly to the Prius set.
How many watts does it give you, Boomer? Something beyond lighting and a TV (old, not flat screen)? Does the price include batteries (for when all is calm, outside)?
There's a whole bunch of online reviews of it, but basically it's a six foot wide turbine which generates 1,580 Kwh. It'd take forever to pay for itself in energy savings, but I think it'd be great for here where the hydro goes off often. You'd need quite a few of these wind turbines to get off the grid completely, I would think.
Solution for all: build the biggest, tallest, damn wind turbine money can buy for your backyard. Move away when you start it up so there is no chance of developing a psychosomatic illness, let the wildlife adapt and take over your former digs. Everyone gets what they need. Finally, lobby the Provincial Government to legalize slingshot hunting in cities, and Tommy_Paine can practice up for the next strike when there are windows that need "opening"...
from: Honeywell wind turbine is a breeze to run - and a light one at that
The Honeywell Windgate wind turbine comes with a computerized control box, power inverter, and an interconnect switch to wire the system into a household panel. A professional electrician is required for installation and the homeowner must also supply one or more automotive-type batteries to complete the system. Once installed, the Windgate can create up to 2000 kilowatt hours (kW) of power per year, which is about 15 percent of an average household's energy needs.
I see no reason for the Honeywell home windmill turbine to cost $5000. +/- other than pure profit motive. I predict in a year or two, after making exorbitant profit on this thing, and with competition making similar (generic) units, the price will come down by anywhere from one-third to one-half, thus making the unit much more attractive to eco-minded homeowners. I know if the price can be reduced to about $1,000 total, I'll be interested in one myself, to drive small appliances or the computer and television, when the hydro goes off, as it frequently does here. I'd rather have electricity generated (and stored) by my own small turbine windmill than use the noisy and polluting gas-powered generators common here on the coast during power outages.
And of course, if the power remains off for an extended period, you will likely have to deal with fuel supply issues if using a gas powered generator. That can be temporarily overcome by having extra fuel stored close at hand, but there are in many areas, insurance implications with regard to fuel storage. Wind or solar backup makes a good deal of sense although one needs to practice a little conservation when off the grid.
I think that for Ontario air the biggest bang for a regulatory buck would be to require all air conditioners to be sold with solar panels. Seems to me if it is searing hot and sunny why not be limited to only the power of the sun to cool your house. For most homes I am sure there are solar panel products on the market that would generate enough solar energy to help cool houses. No more demand spike during heat waves and trying to fire up obsolete electrical plants to meet the demand.
In that same issue of Popular Science, on the very next page after the windmill review, is an article about the Andalay AC Solar PV Panel, making it easier to install solar arrays.
excerpt:
"New panels from Andalay incoporate microinverters, along with racking and wiring - and take a big step toward true plug-and-play solar power for the home."
I hate using gas power generators when the power goes off - the noise, pollution, and having to be around in case it runs out of fuel. And I hate storing gas in my garage. And, my small generator developed a gas leak, it'll probably cost more to get it faixed than to but a new one, so it's just being used as a outside doorstop for now. (I can't find the source of the leak so it's not going to be an easy fix) Meanwhile, I emptied the gas container into my truck, too much risk in keeping it inside the garage.
Actually, for taking out lexan protected high intensity lighting. But I suppose it opens windows, too.
There's a whole bunch of online reviews of it, but basically it's a six foot wide turbine which generates 1,580 Kwh. It'd take forever to pay for itself in energy savings, but I think it'd be great for here where the hydro goes off often. You'd need quite a few of these wind turbines to get off the grid completely, I would think.
Cost savings are kind of relative. It's probably not at all cost effective for me to have a few, given wind in the city and already being hooked up to a very reliable source. But, if you are out in the bush, and looking at the cost of your hydro provider hooking you up, all of a sudden they look very cost effective, I should think.
Not to mention if you were to use them to power a grow op, instead of leaving a tell tale electricity signature on the grid.
As My Cat Knows Better hit on, I think the real key is doing conservation first, bringing down the amount of power you really need to run your abode, then looking for alternatives.
Talking to a few people who have tried this and that, I think solar panels are still a ways away from being cost effective for anyone. I think, however, that solar power through heat is right now effective. There's a few mega projects in dessert places that use mirrors to focus heat radiation on pipes filled with oil, which is then used to boil water. and then turn a turbine. They seem outrageously expensive for what is an assembly of trailing edge technology, but perhaps that's because the R&D costs haven't been amortized, and appear all at once.
Seems to me such systems might provide, if not individual solutions, perhaps local municiple solutions to peak power demands due to air conditioning and the like.
Off the thread comment:
Many uses for sure, I was with 598 and we were out in 2000 and 2004... 2000 was ugly.
If windmills should be outlawed because each one kills less than 4 birds per then I guess picture windows would also have to be banned because one house with a picture window kills 10 birds per year.
How many animals are killed due to the tarsands industry?
Don't get me wrong - I am not indifferent to the unneccessary death of any animals however it seems to me that the petrolium industry will do everything possible to expose and blow out of proportion any detriments of their competition.