Well, let’s see: 1395 residents divided by 4 turbines equals roughly 350 people per turbine. Divide 350 by 2 point something (number of people per household) and you get around 125 houses. That would be several typical residential streets. I think there are vacant lots and parking lots in many areas where these could go up. I’m not suggesting we could get 100% of our needs from them, but add to that solar panels on roofs, caulking doors and windows, etc. and you would certainly go a LONG way towards reducing our dependency on foreign oil and help the environment. As far as the issue of aesthetics, it would take awhile to get used to seeing them there. But I’m sure it took people awhile to get used to seeing billboards, phone lines, telephone poles, etc. around town.

I really don’t see why we would need to expand nuclear capacity, and actually I would think we could reduce it 20-30 years down the road. Nuclear is VERY expensive when you look at the TOTAL costs. Most studies the right wing produces cherry pick the costs they want to include. Why do you think the utilities try to hit up the taxpayers for nuclear (like Ameren is now doing)? It’s because private investors steer clear of nuclear.

1400 / 4 = 350 per generator. For every KW per house, that’s 350KW per gen. Doesn’t sound realistic to get everybody 1KW - these things just don’t produce that much power.

Excellent post,sej, but too many people are too complacent and feel it would be inconvenient to change their lifestyles and reduce energy use even if it means more autonomy and energy independence for all of us in the long run.Personally, as soon as we finish a few more energy efficiency projects at home, I am going to seriously investigate getting a turbine to make a reasonable dent in our electric costs for the future,as one thing we can depend on is Ameren raising the rates on both sides of the river.There is actually a Harley dealer in O’fallon,Illinois who has a wind turbine on their parking lot, and a town towards Springfield,Illinois that has a larger one, too.Obviously, they believe it was worthwhile.People don’t usually realize that “alternative” energy isn’t always sustainable,just as “all-natural” isn’t always healthy.I have found a tendency for those who don’t want to do something to claim it can’t be done and spend far more effort justifying and defending that position than it probably would take to just do it.Usually they are teenagers, but not always.

Wind power is a great supplement to the other sources on the power grid. However, if there isn’t any wind - there isn’t any power. There is no current technology or energy storage device that would allow wind turbines to store energy for use when they aren’t spinning. Why are people so against nuclear power? There hasn’t been 1 death related to nuclear power in the United States, and there has only been on major incident (three mile island), which was contained after a major human error in judgement. The technology used in the three mile island plant is the equivalent of using a Commodore 64 computer as compared to IBM’s big blue. We have ships that have been running on nuclear power since the 1950’s without any fatal accidents.

So, you can believe the greenpeace lunatics with all of their propaganda about how dangerous nuclear power is, or you can use common sense and research the facts that nuke power is safe, there are no CO2 emissions and the amount of waste produced by each plant is minimal.

What we need is a multitude of different power sources so we aren’t relying on one major source. Why not break down the power grid as follows: 30% nuclear, 30% coal, 10% natural gas, 10% hydro, 5% geothermal, 5% wind, 5% solar, 5% other.

http://www.news-addict.com

Going green, I looked in to wind power for my place. Granted, I didn’t go too deep after the initial sticker shock. Most of what I saw stated a 10 year ROI but some “honest” estimates put that number closer to 15 or 20 years. I just can’t see spending money today that will take 15 years to recoup in savings.

If anyone knows of an inexpensive private wind venture, I’m all ears.

Amazed,
I have seen wind turbines available at Home Depot online, at about 7 to 10 grand for a decent-sized one.I am not sure if that includes the tower and installation, but I am guessing not.I have read there are substantial federal tax credits available, and some states offer them ,too.Mother Earth News has had a lot of helpful information on DIY projects, with some regarding wind power. Have you checked their website?I am not sure we have the necessary mechanical skills to make one ourselves, but I haven’t ruled it out.The ROI may seem too long right now, but if rates keep rising, it becomes shorter every day.At this point, our summer electric bill is equal parts user fees and electricity use (as we don’t use A/C much), which is getting ridiculous.After some of the days-long power outages we experienced in the last few years, I also have a strong desire for more energy independence at home.I think if more people were less dependent on monopolistic utilities, the utility companies might have to rethink how they do business.While I am in no hurry to go off-grid(power lines run within 75 feet of my house), the convenience of being on-grid is loosing its luster.

Amazed
You are spot on with the 15-20 year ROI. The NREL website provides countless stats on the issue. (National renewable energy lab). Wind is a part of the future soulution but currently economically out of reach for most people.