1 in 10 homes can generate their own clean power
February 2, 2010 by Tom GuayPosted in: energy efficiency, In this week's e-newsletter, Latest News & Views, News, solar power, Wind Power
It won’t be all that long before 10% of the homes in Britain will be generating their own electric power.
That’s the goal of a new green energy investment plan unveiled by the UK’s Energy and Climate Change Secretary Ed Miliband.
To get there, London’s offering lucrative incentives to get consumers to invest in solar panels, small-scale wind turbines and other low-carbon energy technologies by 2020, according to a story in the UK’s 24 Dash.com blog on housing issues.
To get there, London’s offering a “feed-in tariff” plan to purchase electricity generated by these small clean energy systems. For example, for a photovoltaic solar panel system, the government will pay owners to up about $1,000 for the installation.
The UK expects that small scale renewable energy projects — those less than five megawatts — will meet 2% of Britain’s electricity needs by 2020.
Meanwhile in the U.S., prospects for wind energy are looking good for small business and home owners interested in clean energy. Ron Stimmel with the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA) points out that his industry’s eying a 30% increase in demand for wind energy projects for wind systems for homes and small businesses between 2009 and 2014.
There are two reasons for rising demand for wind turbines:
- 1) a 30% federal tax credit for wind energy installations that runs through 2018, and
- 2) prices for wind equipment are falling as manufacturers expand production capacity.
Proof: 2009 was a boom year for AWEA members. The group reports that the wind industry set an all time record by installing 10,000 megawatts of new generating capacity, enough to serve 2.4 million homes.
GreenandMore.com
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February 8th, 2010 at 10:59 pm
What we need is a paradigm shift in what we think about our homes and other structures. It is time for a radical departure from what we think of as a home. The building techniques of the past cannot persist into the future as they are wastedul and thus unsustainable. The homes found here: http://www.monolithic.com use one third the power of a conventional home and cost the same to build and use almost no wood. A commercial structure built in this manner costs less to build, goes up faster and the construction cost can be recaptured over 15 years with the savings in heating and cooling. Adding highly efficient appliances, and reusing the gray water for watering the lawn or flushing toilets will greatly reduce water usage. Water usage could be further reduced with the use of incinerating toilets.
Because of these homes miserly energy usage, the homes power needs could be entirely provided with a solar panel system or wind turbine. A home built in this fashion would have no power bill and no water bill or sewage bill. The goal for me would to be completely off grid.
Ideally, one could have a small family garden for vegetables and the like. We need to be more self sufficient and less reliant on a centralized power grid and food distribution network.