House Design Online

Build your own Wind Turbine

Congratulations to Peter, Alanna and all involved in the Eco Living Festtival which took place over the weekend.  The festival took place in the scenic little village of Drumsna on the banks of the majestic Shannon River near Carrick-on-Shannon in Co. Leitrim.

There was something of interest for anyone interesting in ways to live more sustainably. I was particularly interested in a demonstration on how to build your own wind turbine. Suprisingly, it doesn’t seem to be so difficult, especially when explained by the people at Eirbyte.

Is it practical? Is it affordable? Is it sustainable? Yes to all, I would say. Lets all step out of the mode of mass production for a moment. Yes we could order something like these from China. But what is every local community started to teach local people how to build turbines locally.

The blades are manufactured using timber and many of the other componnents could be derived from recycled materials.

According to the people at Eirbyte, one doesn’t need to be an expert, many of the skills are taught at workshops throughout the country.

Within most local communities  however, we havethe expertise, We have carpenters, welders, electricians, mechanics and engineers, many of whom are underemployed at the moment. By consolidating these skills, local communities could become more resilient.

For more information on the Eco Living Festival and on building your own wind turbine, please follow the links below:

EIRBYTE

ECO LIVING FESTIVAL

BUILD YOUR OWN WIND TURBINE

SCORAIG WIND ELECTRIC

There are also a number of books which might be of interest:

An organisation entitled the Spirit of Ireland is developing an alternative economic vision for Ireland.

From the Irish Times Monday, May 11, 2009

They are planning to capitalise on Ireland’s capacity to jointly harness Ireland’s uniquely favourable wind-flow, and the potential for hydro-electric generation offered by ice-sculpted valleys running into the Atlantic. (more…)

House Design Online welcome the proposals from the European Parliament that all houses be ‘zero energy’ by 2019.

How practical is it and will full implementation ultimately cause any significant reduction in C02 emissions.

Leonardo Energy, the premier web site delivering a range of virtual libraries relating to electrical energy raises a few questions about the proposal. (more…)

Good news from Sustainable Energy Ireland (SEI) that minister Eamon Ryan has announced a scheme to promote micro-generation. These scheme will enable farm and home owners to sell electricity that they generate back to the grid.   Among the measures is a guaranteed price of 19 cent per kilowatt hour of electricity produced. This competitive feed-in tariff will apply to the first 4,000 micro-generation installations countrywide over the next three years. Eligible installations include:

• Small scale wind
• photovoltaic
• hydro and
• combined heat and power

The scheme is a major initiative in reducing our dependence on imported fossil fuels.

Any who is designing their house at the moment should make provision for the installation of a micro-generator early on in the process.

It is possible with the proper design to build a house which uses less energy than it produces.

FOR MORE INFORMATION ON THE SCHEME CLICK HERE

To see a news item on the scheme click below

RTE NEWS