At this week's WINDPOWER conference, there's lots of big talk about big wind, a big exhibition hall full of big manufacturers of huge wind turbines and gigantic poles and massive transmission lines and other sorts of hi-tech geegaw. But the thing that most interested me was the small wind area.
It was only a few booths, but there was something about it them appealed to me as an individual, a green energy enthusiast and, let's face it, a typical American consumer (hey, I could buy that!). For about $15,000, for instance (much of which is permitting and installation fees), you could invest in the Skystream 3.7, a small, sleek-looking wind turbine that can generate between 40-100% of a home or small business' power needs. (It actually does look pretty cool; the company calls it "the iPod of wind power.") There's no battery or anything, it connects directly to your home, and depending on how your local utility works, if it gets really windy it might even start spinning your meter backwards (meaning the power company pays you, rather than the other way around). Of course, it's not quite plug-and-play yet (as iPods are): you have to have an average wind speed of about 10mph, live on a half-acre with unobstructed views, make sure your local zoning laws permit you to erect 42-foot structures on your property and, oh yeah, find out if your power company will actually let you hook this thing up. (Check out the company's website for more info.)
There's also Entegrity Wind Systems, which manufactures small wind turbines designed to supplement power at businesses and schools. In fact, they've partnered with several impoverished school districts in Texas and provided them with turbines, each of which last year saved about $70,000 per school in energy costs as a result.
It seems the biggest problem with erecting small wind turbines here in Los Angeles is the county's internecine permitting and approval process, which can take up to a year, and is very expensive. For instance, it costs about $2,200 just to to apply for one and have the county ask all your neighbors with in a 500-foot-or-so radius of you what they think. (If more than one of them doesn't like the idea, for whatever reason, you can either cough up about $2,500 more to defend your permit at a public hearing, or give up.) On top of that, you're looking at about $4,000 more in civil engineer approvals, county-approved anti-climb devices, inspections now and in the future, special signage, etc. Needless to say, it's a slog, but activists in LA County are trying to reform the process.
The good news is, there are plenty of states out there interested in having
the wind industry set up shop in their regions. At Monday's confab alone,
the mayor of Los Angeles and the governors of Montana and Iowa made nice to
the assembled windustryites, and at least one congressman (D.C.'s own Jerry
McNerney) and a senator (Tom Daschle) lent their support to the cause as a
whole. In short, the industry is booming, consumer interest in renewable
energy has never been higher, and the future  depending in part on what
happens in the 2008 election  looks bright.
In Eastern Kenya the four Ututu brothers inherited a large area of fertile farmland, which had been terraced by their father in the late 1950s. Despite this resource, they were experiencing problems because they lacked water both for drinking (meaning wasted time, fetching water from 9 miles away in the dry season) and for irrigation.
