Finally! We can now get 100% of our energy supplied by wind

[katinmn]

from Xcel Energy. Windsource is currently available to 38,803 customers in Minnesota, Colorado,and New Mexico. Not much, but it's a start.

You can opt to buy blocks of wind energy for $2 per 100 KW hours, but why not go whole hog and designate that 100% of your energy should come from wind? The wind alternative adds about $14 to your bill a month. Small price to pay in my view.

From the website:
How does Windsource improve the environment?
Through Windsource electricity is produced without air emissions, such as carbon dioxide and sulfur dioxide, both considered to contribute to greenhouse gases. Wind-generated electricity also uses no water and therefore requires no water treatment during production.

Supporting renewable energy means helping to reduce our dependence on fossil fuels and preserve our natural resources for the future.

How is the wind power produced?
Minnesota Windsource is produced mostly in southwest Minnesota, near Woodstock. There are 10 turbines, comprising five separate projects and each turbine produces an average of 3 million kilowatt-hours of electricity each year.

To sign up, go to: http://www.xcelenergy.com/XLWEB/CDA/0,2914,1-1-2_735_3857-3320-5_406_664-0,00.html
and the American Wind Energy Association: http://www.awea.org/

:thumbsup:

[oneighty]

1. But but!

Since I live downwind of you aren't you stealing my wind?

Just kidding. Ha ha ha!

But seriously, since your windmills harvest energy from the wind it must slow it down?

Good subject for the Science Forum.

180

[katinmn]

2. Whaaaat? Do I look like some kind of scientist?

I posted it in the energy and environment forum. Didn't know there was a science forum.

[oneighty]

5. Yes there is a science forum

It is interesting and harbors some darn smart people. My question although somewhat serious (And trivial) is one I have wondered about for years. My conclusion is that the energy drained from the moving air would be very slight. There was a prototype modern wind mill operating here near Buffalo NY. Due to lack of local interest it was dismantled and shipped off.

Wind power is good!

180

[Worst Username Ever]

3. Not any more than it blowing through trees, buildings, cliffs, etc.

Only with this it at least produces fuel.

[oneold1-4u]

4. Like ocean waves and tides

they won't end or dissipate with taking a bit, nor will they cause dumping of crud all over the world!

[damntexdem]

6. What gives?

Do you mean that Limbaugh and Hannity have agreed to talk incessently in those states?

Hey, they're doing that already -- why not just erect the turbines in front of their mouths?

[dpbrown]

7. This is excellent information

Thank you for posting this...I've been saying that the equation to seek is to make the production of hydrogen from water using wind profitable for years. The last time I looked into this with any depth it appeared that the equation was one cent per kilowatt from breaking even.

Once we cross the breaking even point for pulling hydrogen from water using the wind, then we have created the case for the new energy structure.

I think the oil oligarchs would rather have us believe that the only way to get hydrogen is from fossil fuels, but they are wrong, and continuing to rely on dead dinosaurs in the end makes us untenable as survivors on the planet, but in the short term makes a lot of oil oligarchs extremely wealthy.

Thanks again.

Dan Brown
Saint Paul, Minnesota

[loveable liberal]

8. I worked for NSP/Xcel for 10 years. I dont buy it.

Because you sign up for wind power doesnt mean you get your electricity from the wind generators. The wind generators are on the grid just like Prairie Island , Monticello, Sherco and allan S. King. I dont trust them and I think its a ruse to line their pockets. After all, wind power doesnt require the maintenance, or the licensing that nukies and coal burners cost. They also dont generate the kind of power needed to run a big city. They could, but they dont right now. Ive been looking into solar and wind to supplement my home heating and electricity. You are much better off with a home system than supporting a power 'brokerage' firm like xcel. I believed in N.S.P. because they were local and fair. Xcel is in it for the money. So when someone gets excited about wind generation thats great, people living in the countryside should have their own windmill but the company could be doing a hell of a lot more than they are.

if you want more info let me know....

[katinmn]

9. I trusted NSP more also for the same reasons

Too bad Xcel is the only game in town.

Something tells me the state legislature must have been the impetus for this program some years back.

When I moved here in the late 70s I worked briefly for a small unit of state government that supported the research and coordination efforts of energy experts in wind, solar, hydro. The state was looking at many types of alternative energy resources, including peat and garbage. Brilliant activists, they were doing great work, and were buoyed by having the energy of Paul Wellstone who was working on state policy initiatives in support of alternative energy. (Alternative energy research: another one of Gov. Perpich's wacky ideas.)

But then came another election, Carlson put Kris Sanda in charge of the unit, and she closed the program and laid these guys off.

I wonder where we'd be now if we'd only stuck with the minimal investment we were making then.

[loveable liberal]

15. actually deregulation will cause a rise in prices and use of cheaper coal.

A good solid power monopoly, in my opinion, is the best thing next to nationalizing the industry. Monopolies can provide cheap efficient heat and power, and protect their shareholders with a guaranteed rate of return. It wont be the highest rate of return, but it will be solid and dependable. The Xcel's and Enron's of the world is an attempt to make more money from trapped consumers by eliminating the 'guaranteed' customer base of the monoplies, and supplanting market based pricing which as Kalifornia experienced, can be disasterous. Also, to keep prices low, power companys (and people building coal fired plants for profit) will find the cheapest, dirtiest coal to burn to supply the demand.

[dpbrown]

10. What's "free" about a market that restricts independent sale of power?

Let's say a farmer in southwestern MN decides to erect a couple of towers to generate electricity to sell to his neighbors.

That independent energy producer would find it very difficult to get around restrictions on the monopoly that huge power companies have over the distribution of electricity.

I'm all for cooperatives centered around energy that erect their own small-scale grids to compete locally with the monstrosities of private energy monopolies propped up by a government for sale to the highest bidder.

DPB

[no name no slogan]

11. I met a guy at the Kucinich rally last Feb who was off the power grid

He got all his power via solar and wind, and had been disconnected from the power grid for over a decade. I wish I could find his contact info, as he had some good information and ideas about alternative energy sources.

:shrug:

[dpbrown]

12. The real struggle is breaking free of the oppression of private energy

Capitalism as practiced in this nation may be irretrievably broken.

A capitalism that preaches that it can only survive by cannibalizing the public infrastructure has become so bankrupt that it may be unable to come up with products that consumers want to buy any longer (enslaved as it is to "marketing" instead of "imagination"). So it uses its amassed fortune to buy influence in the halls of power "de-evolving" the public trust for short-term profit.

In the end, we all lose.

DPB

[loveable liberal]

14. typically small producers arent in the game to make money...

they typically get into it to produce just enough, if not a little more than they need. I dont think we'll ever rid ourselves of 'the power plant', but residential customers certainly can remove a bulk of thier billing by going solar and wind. It certainly would reduce demand and therefore the need for more plants. I'm not sure why more rural areas dont push this option. They are excellent sources of reuseable energy. One of the windmills i looked at needed 10 mph wind to produce, Minnesota's average wind speed is...you guessed it... 10 mph.

[Worst Username Ever]

13. No, you do not get the energy directly from the turbines.

You are basically making a donation for upkeep of the turbines. They say you are "buying" the power, but it says right in the site that it is just energy pumped right into the grid. Fine by me, I'll doante for turbine upkeep/land rent. If it ever becomes profitable to take the energy from the wind instead of fossil fuels, I am sure Ecel will mnake the switch. It jsut needs to get affordable enough.

On edit, I beleive Xcel had to sign a contract with the state stating that they would, by a certain year, have 5% or 10% or whatever of their energy output come from renewable resources. I am sure this is their attempt at this.