Green Technologies: Wind

If it's a new site you're building on, or one that you simply don't know very well, we would highly recommend spending a few days (and nights) getting acquainted with the weather on the site.  On a few occasions we've been able to rent a RV and spend multiple days and nights just getting a feel for what it will be like to have a house on the site. On the very first night we stayed on the site there was a massive windstorm - and so we thought 'terrific, we'll have wind as a renewable energy source'.  However, we found out that we could easily be fooled by one night of wind.  The more research we did and the more we talked to the pros, the more we found out that there is a difference between "sustainable winds" and a sporadic windstorm.

Wind power has gained a lot of attention recently and almost everyone has seen some sort of "wind farm".  In Southern California - were we live - there is a very impressive wind farm just outside of Palm Springs. For the average consumer, however, wind energy means lightweight wind turbines that can be installed right on a building site on a large tower (subject to various building codes requirements).  Doing the research for wind was fun, but ultimately, it's probably not something that we will incorporate.  It turns out that notwithstanding the times we've been there for wind storms - there is not enough of a constant wind to justify the large outlay of cash it would take to put up a wind turbine.

To help you make up your own mind, we've included some helpful links that we thought you might find handy.