FuturEnergy Wind Turbine Powers Britain's Best Eco-Home

The installation of a FuturEnergy high-power wind turbine has helped a unique two-storey house made from straw to win the title of Britain's Best Eco-Home. The accolade was presented as part of Channel Four television's Grand Design Awards.

Built on top of a remote hill overlooking the Teifi estuary and the west Wales coastline, 'Penwhilwr' is the UK's first two-storey loadbearing straw house, with walls made solely from stacked straw bales without a framework. Only natural materials and techniques were used during the construction process, which was carried out by amateur volunteers from around the world.

Five-years in the building, Penwhilwr was designed and conceived by its owner Rachel Shiamh as both a home and base for her natural essences and jewellery business and for the Quiet Earth Centre for Alternative Living, which provides a range of courses, retreats and conferences in the ways of authentic living.


A total commitment to non-impact self-sustainable living is reflected throughout the design of the building with all electrical power generated cleanly on-site by the one-kilowatt FuturEnergy wind turbine supplemented by five 125-watt Kyocera solar PV (photovoltaic) panels. The hybrid mix of wind and solar power provides sufficient all-year round electricity to cover all the building's current and future needs including the running of low-energy lights, laptop computers, sound system, pumps for the solar thermal system and underfloor heating and appliances including washing machine.



The FuturEnergy wind turbine is mounted on a seven-metre tall mast on the edge of a field, some 20-metres from the house. Power from the turbine and the solar panels is stored in an insulated battery bank comprising eight six-volt cells, with a 24-volt output inverted to produce a standard 240-volt AC supply.

Further reducing Penwhilwr's impact on the environment, all heating is provided by a bio-mass heating system fueled by wood coppiced from the surrounding woodland, with hot water produced by a solar thermal heater. Natural spring water is supplemented by a rainwater harvesting system, whilst all waste including human waste is composted naturally on site.

“We chose the FuturEnergy wind turbine due to its UK manufacture and because it and the company's representatives were highly recommended to us,” comments Rachel Shiamh. “The turbine also needed to be aesthetically pleasing to soothe a neighbour's concerns.”

“It's beautiful being powered by the sun and the wind, as it gives one the chance to truly live with rather than against nature.”

www.gwaliaessences.co.uk
www.quietearth.org.uk
www.futurenergy.co.uk

Source: RightanglePR
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The world's largest Wind Farm – to-date – finally approved

The world's largest wind farm, which has been planned for the North Sea off the coast of Kent, UK, for some time has now finally been officially approved. However, the project, which is being planned by Eon and Shell energy companies, is being threatened by an increase and projected costs, and possible regulatory problems with transmitting the power.

A substation and the power cables necessary to transport the power to population centers are being fought by locals. At the same time, the projected cost of the project has increased from £1.5bn to £2bn.

Locals are are not, so it is claimed, interested in having the 340 turbine project in their back yard, but the UK needs to focus on these massive renewable projects in order to meet it's Kyoto targets. Without them, it simply won't happen.

The amazing thing, so to speak, is that some people always manage to get public opposition stirred against such projects and those that do the stirring are, invariably, members from organizations that are, supposedly, concerned with the environment and are supposed to be all for alternative, renewable energy, such as Greenpeace of Friends of the Earth. They are all for it, it would seem, when it is in other countries but as soon as it is here and in one or the other's backyard then they hit out against it. We cannot, I am afraid to say, have it both ways.

This is the same when it comes to waste incineration projects that will generate electric power while burning rubbish. Again and again the likes of Friends of the Earth and such will stand against this saying that we must recycle instead of incinerating. Yes, that is true. We must recycle what we can recycle but there will always be some left that cannot be recycled and this will either have to go into holes in the ground, of which we are running out of or indeed have run out of, or it must be burned. This is being done in other countries, such as Germany, Sweden, etc. and – strangely enough – there seem to be no problems there and no protests, in the main, against such projects. However, as soon as they appear on the horizon anywhere in the UK those people are there campaigning against those projects instead of making some real positive input. A little less negative attitude and some more positive stances and suggestions would be nice – I am not holding my breath, however, waiting for such moves.

© M V Smith, October 2007

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The Most Powerful Wind Turbine Anywhere

Enercon GMBH of Germany, probably one of the most innovative wind power companies in the world, has just announced that it has begun selling a six-megawatt wind turbine! That is a good 20% more powerful than any other turbine currently on the market, producing enough power per turbine to power 4,000 homes, making it the most powerful wind turbine anywhere, at this moment in time.

Enercon does not waste much time figuring out fancy names for its turbines. Their most popular model, the E-40, has a turbine diameter of 40 m, while this new turbine, the E-112, has a turbine diameter of 112 meters. It is that simple. Who needs fancy names anyway for turbines?

Interestingly, this isn't the world's largest wind turbine; it just produces the most power, a testament to Enercon's innovative strategies. The turbine blades are specially designed, and Enercon's patented gearless generator keeps noise, friction, and maintenance to a minimum.

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