Re: Solar Panels and wind gen??

[humbug]

I used to own a home where we did just that. We had 20 Kyrocerer 85 watt panels. We also had the Whisper 900 watt wind generater.
The number one thing to consider when installing an independent system is "how much are you willing to conserve?" By converting your home to a conserving household you will need less energy therefore reducing your costs for your system.
How much sun is available and how much wind is available where you live? I live in Nevada ..the sun shines most of the time and the wind blows a lot...Nevada is an ideal state for these systems. However I have seen a system in upstate NY where in winter they rarely have sunny days...even in summer it seems they are limited..that worked well for the couple who owned it. Solar panels will produce electricity even on cloudy days, although the output will be greatly decreased. Wind generaters have optimum windspeeds that they operate at..not enough wind they won't produce power..too much wind they usually cut out of the wind to prevent damage to the generator.

[flatwater]

What you need on the west side is something that will generate energy from the rain , maybe a small turbine that will attach to your rain gutters. Another thing would be to find something that would use slugs to generate energy , ya have a ton of them over there. I hope you know I'm just making fun of the west side. Now over on the east side we have that huge bright thing in the sky . I think they call it the sun. Around vantage and ellensburg they have enough wind to supply both sides with power. There the only place I know of that the trees grow sideways.
flatwater

[DavidOH]

Sure, more is good. More sources of power. ;D

Always have a system that has one more option open.

The wind doesn't stop at night when you may need extra power for lighting.

[drmargy]

We use both at our cabin in coastal BC. Besides the weather, we are in a location that only has four hours of "sun" on the best of days from about November to January. We added a wind generator. We don't get a lot of wind, but in the winter any energy source is appreciated. Now when the wind blows we don't complain, we just say we're making power! We now have three panels along with the wind generator. That only allows for minimal electrical power needs. But we conserve and it works for us. Our alternative source is propane.