Home Windmills

[hpp4me]

I know there are a lot of windmills on the south side of the island. Is anyone using windmills for electrical energy generation, and if so, do you use this with solar panels or as an alternative to solar panels?

[Daniel]

We have all solar. I think you will have much better success with solar than with wind in puna. Feel free to come by and check it out if you want. We're pushing about 4 KW in full sun.

Daniel R Diamond

[hpp4me]

What does 4 kw mean in practical terms? I'm not well versed in things electrical.

[Kapohocat]

My house uses about 36-39 KW each day.

[Carey]

If you currently have an electric bill (for this you have to be on grid)look at the KWH (kilowatthours) that you are billed. The Helco bill has a usage profile at the bottom of the blue section. This will give you your monthly KWH (kilowatt hours) used, & also breaks it down to an ave. daily rate (ours is 5.5-7.5 KWH per day over the last year) Your electric meter can give you a spot check, depending on the type. Some digital units actually have an instantaneously KW (kilowatt) reading, others you must look at the spinning wheels.
Along with the Kilowatt rating of the generation system, you also must look at the storage system (most public electric suppliers do not have passive storage like batteries, but use active storage in dammed water, or can vary their fuel load to account for peak demands - this is system used on island by Helco) &/or your fuel generator - like the Genpac David installed.
If you are on grid, the home show at the mall had a new company that is offering residential users the oppurtunity to lease their roof for solar installation (much like the SunEdison system on Island Naturals Pahoa store) Check them out at:
www.Powur.com/SavingSolar

If you are interested in wind power, there was one system at the home show at the mall - Windpower NOW had the Pacwind system: www.pacwind.net



Edited by - carey on 08/27/2007 17:34:11

[hpp4me]

Thanks for all the info, folks!

As for wind, I'm not sure just how windy our lot will prove to be. The lot is on 3rd Ave, 4/10ths of a mile from the cliffs of HPP. We're still mainlanders, though.



Edited by - hpp4me on 08/27/2007 19:03:46

[Daniel]

hpp4me,

KW stands for Kilowatt. A kilowatt is 1000 watts. A kilowatt hour is useing or producing 1000 watts for one hour. So a 100 watt bulb will use one kilowatt hour in ten hours. Make any sense? So with a 4 kw (4000 watt) solar system, we generate 12-18 KWHs a day. The amount a nromal sized house uses.

Kapohocat,

What on earth are you doing to use that much electricity?

Daniel R Diamond

[ArtM]

quote:

---

Kapohocat,

What on earth are you doing to use that much electricity?

---

I had the same question. That implies a monthly electric bill of well over $300 per month (at 33 cents per KWhr).

Daniel, do you use propane for water heating, cooking, and clothes drying? Also, are you completely off-grid, with batteries, or are you intertied?

Just curious,

Art

[hpp4me]

Thanks, Daniel. If you had normal usage plus a swimming pool, how many KW would you need? I understand that pools take a lot of energy.

Also, what would one pay per KW for a solar set up?

quote:

---

hpp4me,

KW stands for Kilowatt. A kilowatt is 1000 watts. A kilowatt hour is useing or producing 1000 watts for one hour. So a 100 watt bulb will use one kilowatt hour in ten hours. Make any sense? So with a 4 kw (4000 watt) solar system, we generate 12-18 KWHs a day. The amount a nromal sized house uses.

Kapohocat,

What on earth are you doing to use that much electricity?

Daniel R Diamond

---

[Carey]

For your normal useage, check your current electrical bill or meter (usally near the inverter...somewhere...if you are currently off grid...) For pool electrical that really depends - on the volume of water (ie size), the filter capacity, the pump size, if the pool has this - the heater capacity & size & the type of heating....so many variables....
If you are not intending to have the electrical usage you currently have...do things around your house to reduce your useage now (Hawaii is th e most expensive state for electricity, so it is best to practice energy reduction before you get here...cheaper too!
Things we did: change all of your lights to energy saving lights (we are in the second generation of this, now only adding LED lights, as CFL (compact flourescent)- like the bigger tubes - all have mercury as a waste issue & we are trying to limit that impact too, Reduce or eliminate CRT monitors & TVs, replace with energy miser LCD or Plasmas...eliminate or put elec. hot water tank on timer or switch on only when you need hot water, carefully look at the electrical consumption of all of your appliances & place all that you can on switches, to eliminate 'ghost draw' of powered up components.
These are just a few ideas...
We have also noticed that our teenage nieces were HUGE energy draws when they visited, & most of our friends with teenagers seem to have very large energy useage...don't know what to make of that...tie their allowance/living expenses to the electric meter???