Reduce, Reuse Recycle... how about stop making???
I make no apologies... only assumptions.
What does this have to do with wind power. Wind power is not regular, it unbalances the grid, the more wind power you have the more of a balancing act you have. Here at work one of the profs "in the know" said we could probably handle a 6% to 8% wind generation dip. When the wind falls off and the load needs to be balanced we get our power by increasing reactor or hydro output or by getting electricity from someone else on the grid... our neighbours to the south.
Denmark my get 40% of there power from the wind, but that has to balance someplace when there is no wind. They are fortunate that the winds in the North Sea are pretty predictable.
Local wind power is the way to go, and by local I mean off the grid, single use systems. I will use my cottage as an example.
Walk into Canadian Tire and you can purchase a 400W wind generating system for about $1200 with all the bits and pieces. If my cottage were to be wired (which I can do) so the lights were all on a separate circuit I could use this system to power all my lights, and some other low current draw devices. A battery would store the power when I am not using it and an inverter would convert it back to AC when I need it. The system can also be integrated with a solar panel to give you some juice on sunny days.
You can also dump the battery storage and tie into the grid (your breaker box) with a special inverter... but that will double the price. Thing is, the system payback time is like 20 years, assuming nothing breaks in that time. Personally I plan on building my own generator from a automotive alternator. It doesn't have to be efficient, just cheap.
Payback math
System $1,200 (non grid system)
It's like a plane crash. It is tragic that so many die at once. You feel terrible and some may say flying is not safe. But the truth is you are more likely to die getting hit by a car crossing the street than you are to die in a plane crash.
Chernobyl was tragic, it shouldn’t have happened, but it did. The same can be said for a car accident. But neither is cause to suspend use of the technology.
BTW… did you know that Worldwide about 50 nuclear weapons have… ahh… been lost. Most in plane crashes or dumped in the ocean. Some have even been dropped… unarmed,…by mistake.
More on the solar, wind power option later. They have there place on the grid, but are not currently a viable replacement for present power systems.
Incandescent bulb (60 watts)
Compact Fluorescent (13 watts, same as 60 watt Incandescent)
In short, over the life of the CFB you will save about $25.00 per bulb. The payback time for the original purchase is less then 1 year. I have picked up CFB at the Dollar store which makes the payback about 3 months.
Again there is a lot of guesstimation, but the fact is they will save you money. The newer bulbs are cheaper and provide a pleasing light... as in colour temperature. You can usually pick up a 6 pack on sale for $10.00 at CTC.
A few problems... they don't like the cold, and they don't dim. But you can always use halogen or another efficient bulb there.
CANDU 6 rant. (Cost 3 billion dollars, 700 Mwh)
If we replaced every bulb in our homes with CFB's, let's say 3 CFB's on per household, with 4.5 million households in Ontario, we could save 634 Mw every hour the lights are on. That is about the output of 1 Candu 6 Nuclear Reactor. BTW... I am pro Nuclear, there is no other choice except conservation.
Right now (as of this minute) Ontario is using 18,284 Mw per hour.
The New Math
If Ontario Hydro bought every household a 6 pack of bulbs at $10 a pack it would cost $45 Million dollars. The interest (5%) on 3 billion dollars (Candu 6 cost) is 12.5 million per month. So... in 4 months Hydro would recover their investment by not building an additional reactor. Just by converting everyone to CFB's Hydro could defer the cost of at least one Candu 6.
The break even point is really more like 4 years.
Error analysis... all these numbers are averages, you may have more or less lighting, and may leave them on longer or shorter. You also have to shell out $35 bucks for a bulb versus $2 for a 4 pack. The latter seems cheaper, but not in the long run.
The LED's bulbs themselves are currently not made by any big name compaines, ummm can't imagine why... OH COME ON... there is no profit in making a bulb that you only buy once. Incandescent Bulb Companies make a small fortune selling people the same bulb over and over again. Most LED bulb companies are small guys trying to make a buck. The compact Flourescent bulb market is picking up steam and in a few years I imagine the LED market will follow suit. The price for LED's will drop and replace the Compacts as the light source of choice.
CANDU 6 rant. (Cost 3 billion dollars, 700 Mwh)
If we replaced one bulb for every person in Ontario we would be saving 691 Mwh every hour the lights are on. That is the output of 1 Candu 6 Nuclear Reactor. BTW... I am pro Nuclear, there is no other choice except conservation.
Right now (as of this minute) Ontario is using 18,178 Mw per hour.