Can a Bike Generate Your Home's Energy?

[James E. Braun, CMI]

A wind turbine marketed by Honeywell could make generating electricity a home-based business.

The compact turbine resembles a 6-foot in diameter bicycle wheel that sits on a suburban roof. It can function at wind speeds as low as 2 mph, doesn’t make loud noises or vibrate excessively – two objections to competing turbines.

The average U.S. household uses about 10,000 kilowatt hours of electricity in a year. WindTronics, the Michigan firm that developed and manufactures the turbine, says their turbine on the roof of a close-in suburban home can be expected to generate about 20 percent of the electricity a household needs.

The installed cost of the turbine, including a connection to the local electric grid, averages about $8,000 to $9,000, WindTronics estimates, but that cost is offset by a federal tax credit of 30 percent. It may also be reduced by state and local tax credits.

Source: Washington Post, Katherine Salant (01/30/2010)

[Vaughn Hill]

It may wearout before it even gets close to paying for itself.

[Bruce A. King]

The reporter used the lowest possible electric usage available, the real average most published is 10,000 to 20,000 kwh per year.

[Brian A. MacNeish]

Originally Posted by vhill

It may wearout before it even gets close to paying for itself.

Yep!! Just when you get to the payback point around 20 years, you're at the end of the expected life and have to buy another.

Learn how to conserve energy and then conserve some more!! My current conservation phrase is: "We should be drillng for oil in our houses; there are billions of barrels of untapped oil there in the form of energy efficiency and conservation!"

Henry David Thoreau quote:
"A man is rich in proportion to the number of things he can afford to let alone."

[Michael Larson]

Renewable Electric Generation 2000 kWh/yr - Class 3 Winds
Renewable Electric Generation 2752 kWh/yr - Class 4 Winds
(D.O.E. average US household electric 11,000 kWh/yr)

$6000 plus required installaton charges.

$200/year saved
20 year life

Doesn't even pay for itself in 20 years.

Take into account time value of money and this thing sucks bananas.

• Includes all-in-one computerized Smart Box Energy Management System
• Pure Sine Wave Inverter
• Turbine directional controller that optimizes wind direction and disengages in high wind speeds
• Provides less than 35dB of noise when operating
• Comes fully assembled
• Must be installed by a certified professional

http://www.northerntool.com/webapp/w...5533_200405533

[Christopher Currins]

Originally Posted by mlarson

Renewable Electric Generation 2000 kWh/yr - Class 3 Winds
Renewable Electric Generation 2752 kWh/yr - Class 4 Winds
(D.O.E. average US household electric 11,000 kWh/yr)

Must be installed by a certified professional

http://www.northerntool.com/webapp/w...5533_200405533

Don't give Ben any more ideas.