Have you ever wanted to stop paying the power company? Or better yet, get the power company to pay you? Well, total independence from the grid is pretty expensive, but for the price of a car you can generate your own electricity with the wind.
Texas Responsible Energy and Efficiency, or Tree is a new business in Tyler. Sam Garrard, vice president of operations, is supervising erecting something that looks a little like a tree, but it doesn't dump leaves in your yard every fall…The Sky stream 2.4 kilowatt system gives you power.
"It's designed to produce AC directly out of the tower, so it's a plug and play operation. It makes it extremely easy for the residential home owner to understand, be able to use, and actually be able to check and monitor at their own convenience by using a laptop inside their home," he said.
But first, the fifty-foot turbine has to go up. Once it starts spinning up some power, Sam says there's enough wind juice to power your air conditioner and maybe a TV, too. It all depends on the breeze. No wind, no power. But, it keeps zapping your house all the time, so if there's wind and nothing is on at the house, the meter is blown backwards. . Eventually, you could actually make money by sitting in the dark.
"On average, depending on wind speed you're talking 8 years. High wind speeds you're at six years. In our area you're closer to the eight to nine year range," Sam said.
Once the turbine is leveled…which takes a few adjustments, the output jumps to 400 watts. It goes to 1200 from time to time. Once your turbine pays for itself, you might invest in solar power and, given enough time, your power bill could be gone with the wind.
The Turbine puts out up to 2400 watts in high winds. And, if you get a taller pole, you'll get more wind. They run around 16 thousand dollars, and can produce up to 400 kilowatt hours a month. It starts generating power with an eight mile an hour wind.
