HOME > NEWS Change is blowing in the windShareNew Hampshire Sun Sentinel The Portsmouth Herald is heartened by a test project involving a Southwest Windpower's Skystream 3.7 wind turbine in Hampton. ... The Skystream 3.7 offers the hope that someday municipalities and many residences could produce much of their necessary power on their own without a drop of oil, or any other fossil fuel, for that matter. What could possibly be better than to see multinational oil companies going out of business? The Skystream 3.7 produces about 400 kilowatt hours a month. While this doesn't provide the 900 to 1,200 kilowatt hours of electricity needed per month for an average home, it is a start. Cumulatively, enough of these small, relatively unobtrusive wind turbines can make a very considerable difference. The Skystream is not what you may think of if you're envisioning one of the massive windmills seen in wind farms out west. Skystream rotors are just 12 feet in diameter and sit atop poles at heights of 34 to 110 feet. The Skystream is quiet and designed to produce electricity in low wind, making it ideal for residential use. It is true that installing a Skystream is not a minor investment. It costs about $15,000 to install just one, and there are some limitations related to topography of proposed sites. However, the promise seen in the wind that twirls the rotor is far greater than the hot air that too often blows from politicians' mouths. While our national political leaders generally cry about record profits for oil companies and haggle over tax credits for alternative energy development, we have two active examples of getting the job done without years of study and debate ... Southwest Windpower, the world's leading manufacturer of personal-sized wind turbines, was founded in 1987 and has stayed the course toward what looks like a more promising future by the day. However, Andy Kruse, co-founder and executive vice president of Southwest Windpower, just last year said it remains easier to market wind power options outside the United States, primarily due to limited educational efforts here and government policy. But, with each sale of its turbines, now numbering more than 90,000, it becomes more successful, which will help lower the cost of its products and allow for further research and development of new products. Such is not limited to Southwest Windpower or wind power generation. The more Americans fight through the cost and hassle of buying a hybrid car, the more readily available they will become. The more the government invests in buses powered by hydrogren fuel cells, the more common they will become. The more Americans use bio-diesel, the more affordable and available it will become. Ditto for solar power generation. |
