However in cities, the buildings cause a great deal of wind turbulence, and slow down wind speeds.Wind energy is a tried and tested technology that has been used for centuries.co.. In fact they are almost useless. And this assumes that the turbine is working efficiently.Unfortunately small wind turbines in their current design are not the way forward for the vast majority of us. You can also consider using a ground source heat pump to heat your home, and solar PV panels on your roof to generate electricity, but these measures can be expensive, and so will not be for everyone.Once you have taken these basic measures, you can start to think about generating your own energy using other clean technologies. As a result, many have come to see it as a major part of the solution for man-made Climate Change. If we could generate a substantial portion of our electricity from wind, we would massively reduce the amount of carbon dioxide that we emit into the atmosphere.However, the vast majority of people live in cities, where small wind turbines are next to useless. More details of all these technologies are available on downwithco2. The most cost effective of these is generally solar hot water, where solar panels on your roof provide up to 70% of your annual hot water needs by using the suns heat.However, for most households, especially in cities, wind turbines are an expensive way to achieve very little. Electricity generated from the wind does not produce any carbon dioxide, and has none of the worries associated with nuclear power. Most famously in the UK, David Cameron, the leader of the Conservative Party, had a small wind turbine installed on the roof of his London home.As a result of this, wind farms have sprung up all over the place, with enormous turbines that each generate enough electricity to power thousands of homes. Some people have also tried to replicate this technology on a small scale, by installing a small wind turbine on their house. Therefore to make a turbine work efficiently it would need to be fixed far above a house (up to 10 metres). Furthermore, the cost of generating electricity from large wind turbines is falling, and is expected soon to be cost competitive with electricity generation from fossil fuels. More recently it has become a popular way to generate electricity, as concern has grown about man-made Climate Change. So what should you do instead? The first thing you should focus on is using energy much more efficiently, by insulating your home to save heat, installing a super-efficient condensing boiler, buying energy-efficient appliances like fridges and washing machines, and installing low energy light bulbs. It is possible that in the future someone will come up with a better design that can work in cities, but until then we will have to carry on building the larger versions, and take other actions to reduce our homes contribution to Climate Change. Fixing a windmill on a long pole like this would likely cause serious damage to your house, as would trying to go for a bigger turbine to generate a larger proportion of your electricity. Some people who live in the country are able to set up turbines that generate a significant proportion of their own electricity.75 metre diameter wind turbine, in an area with UK average wind speed of 4 metres a second, will produce under 5% of an average UK households annual electricity consumption.The only case when you should consider a wind turbine is when you can site it far enough from any obstacles.
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