My feed
Premium

Please
or
to access all these features

Discover eco friendly brands and sustainable fashion on our Ethical Living forum.

Ethical living

B&Q are selling a wind turbine for £1500.....does anyone know anything about them??

39 replies

Katymac · 07/10/2006 11:58

Cos £1500 for 30% of my electric ......well I'll have 3

OP posts:
Report
Katymac · 07/10/2006 12:20

It provides a kilowatt an hour (apparently)

& you don't need planning permission if you don't live in a conservation area

OP posts:
Report
bran · 07/10/2006 12:31

Do you live in an area that gets enough wind? There's probably not much point if you live in a built up area (like an estate) as it would be too sheltered I think.

There's load of info on the net on this sort of thing, this place in Wales has a visitor centre as well as web based info.

Report
Katymac · 07/10/2006 12:33

I'm on the east coast (well about 7 miles in) we get lots of wind

Love CAT....have even been a loooong time ago

There are fields in less than 500m in 3 directions and less then 50m in the other direction

OP posts:
Report
bran · 07/10/2006 12:33

That site has an information sheet on this very subject here.

Report
bran · 07/10/2006 12:37

I'd love to go and see it, wind and solar power is something I'm quite interested in but can't do much about as I live in a flat in London. Perhaps when I move back to Ireland I'll have the opportunity to set up a generating system.

Report
Katymac · 07/10/2006 12:42

a kilowatt hour is one bar of electric....so we are looking at 30 yrs payback

I'm not that green

OP posts:
Report
bran · 07/10/2006 13:00

Where did you get the original estimate of 30% of your electricity from? If it was on the packaging blurb then I think you can assume that it would save 30% for someone who lives in an extremely windy place (like the Outer Hebrides) and who doesn't use all that much electricity to start with.

Report
Katymac · 07/10/2006 13:26

I use 9.5kw an hour (on average) damn that's a lot

OP posts:
Report
GeorginaA · 07/10/2006 13:58

Erm... how much is your electric bill?!

£1500 I work out would save us roughly £10 a month... so £120 a month... would take 12.5 years to get your money back. What's the operational life span of one of these? 10 years?

Report
GeorginaA · 07/10/2006 14:00

Ah sorry - read the thread properly now... 30 years payback... DEFINITELY not worth it!

Have the same issue with current prices of solar panels

Report
Katymac · 07/10/2006 14:09

It's too much that's why I need alt energy

B&Q also do solar.....

OP posts:
Report
GeorginaA · 07/10/2006 15:00

Got any streams running through for a water mill?

Report
Katymac · 07/10/2006 15:17

No

I'm getting solid fuel heating, I'm looking at solar hot water & I might do grey water recycling & rain water harvesting

But I would like a turbine that contributed enough

£1800x10yrs = £18,000 So I'd be prepared to pay maybe £5k to get off the grid (or at least predominatly off the grid)

OP posts:
Report
GeorginaA · 07/10/2006 15:24

Hmm yes, it's worth it then. I think £5k to mostly be off the grid is likely to be a very tight budget though

Report
Katymac · 07/10/2006 18:08

That's on top of the heating (that's already saved up for & in the process of being fitted)

OP posts:
Report
GeorginaA · 07/10/2006 18:29

What about ways to reduce energy/heat consumption? Presumably you've gone through all those already? (better insulation, energy saver bulbs, efficient appliances, etc)

Report
DominiConnor · 07/10/2006 18:36

I'd also be very very ware of attaching this to your house.
The stresses over time will do serious damage, since your house was not designed for this.
For 1500 quid you could by a lot of insulation, energy efficient lights, or plant a serious number of trees.

Report
Katymac · 07/10/2006 19:05

DC I wouldn't do it unless my dad checked it out (he's a structural engineer(MIstructE))

But planting tree won't save me money (it might even cost me?)

I have cavity walls, over insulated loft space, energy/low voltage bulbs everywhere and I am now considering putting insulation panels in the conservatory roof

I want to save money

OP posts:
Report
DominiConnor · 08/10/2006 14:43

Sounds like you're well set uop for this then.
Aslo the 1500 quid is only the purchase price...
Does your talented family include an electrician ?

Linking it in safely is going to cost as well.

Is your boiler new ?
It might be cost effective to replace it.

Report
Katymac · 08/10/2006 15:28

Boiler (wood burning stove) to be put in within the next 6-8 weeks (plumber pending)

I thought the cost of installation was included.....hmm better check

OP posts:
Report
Katymac · 08/10/2006 15:29

at the bottem of the page it says installation inclusive

OP posts:
Report
Katymac · 08/10/2006 15:56

My dad says that with local windspeeds i am only likely to average about 0.5 KW/hr

As I have recelculated & I use 2 KW/hr that is about 25% of my electric

So I will save about £450 per year

This would make payback be in just over 3 yrs (leaving just under 7 of it's operational life to get free electric)

I worry that it's too good a deal

OP posts:
Report

Don’t want to miss threads like this?

Weekly

Sign up to our weekly round up and get all the best threads sent straight to your inbox!

Log in to update your newsletter preferences.

You've subscribed!

Blandmum · 08/10/2006 16:05

Look into how efficient it is.

How regular is your wind ( fnar, fnar)
What would the maintenece costs be?

The kw/hr will only be happeneing while it is windy

Report
Katymac · 08/10/2006 16:07

Our average wind speed round here will give us about .5KW/hr

So as it's average that's what we should get (isn't it)

I'm waiting to here about maintenance - but should have paperwork within a week

OP posts:
Report
Blandmum · 08/10/2006 16:14

The thing is, electricity can't be easily stored. So while it is blowing, you will get it, and when it isn't you will not

And if you don't need it, when it is there, say at night (unless you have night storage heaters) it isn't going to be 'useful' IYSWIM....or will you be selling it to the national grid....serious question I know that people do.

Report
Please create an account

To comment on this thread you need to create a Mumsnet account.