Small Wind: Could Residential Turbines Help Us Wean Off Fossil Fuels?
—M. Simon, Portland, ME
Wind power will likely play a key role in the transition to a zero-emission economy—especially if we can start to distribute it more widely and harness its benefits on a building-by-building basis. Could your own small wind turbine next to your home be the next way to keep up with the Joneses while augmenting the electricity you already get from the grid or solar panels?
The short answer is…definitely. Large wind turbines lined up along the highway in commercial wind farms typically stand at least 150 feet tall, each powering thousands of households per year. But smaller, much less obtrusive turbines might output just enough power to serve as a back-up to your existing solar system or reduce what you need from the grid. Limitations on how much electricity a turbine can extract as well as the variability of the wind itself means that wind power might never be your primary energy source. But there’s no reason it can’t meet an increasingly larger share of your energy needs.