Originally Posted by Dave Ridge
Originally Posted by Paul Eggleton
Originally Posted by Marc LJX
Probably BS but i heard that the large wind turbines will take on average 300 years to generate the amount of power that it cost to make them...
Could it really be that long?
Absolute bollocks
A decent project will payback in 7 years!!!
It's Solar PV which can take longer to payback than the panels last!! But costs are reducing.
7 years financial payback maybe slightly optimistic, unless very efficiently contracted and managed. But most certianly NOT 300 yrs.
However, i don't believe that there is enough evidence around proving the environmental benefit of wind turbines, ie. the CARBON impact, and the period it takes to be saving carbon in comparision other sources such as Nuclear. There is significant infrastructure build as well as the tubines themselves to be considered that all impacts (construction, materials, waste, transport, etc etc). Consider the number of turbines required to supply the same as a reasonable size power station.
Very interesting topic though, that impacts on everyone environmetally and financially.
I'm a fan of nuclear but think of all the concrete involved, which has one of the most energy intensive processes to make. I absolutely agree that one decent sized nuclear station is probably more than all the renwable generation in this country though and I'm glad the government has given the go ahead. Anyway, there's always carbon offsets
7 years is a very good WT project, 10 years is more typical. I should know as I'm in the process of setting one up now
THe LED's we are using come from
www.smaclite.co.uk They aren't on the website yet but you can give them a ring. THey are also direct replacement so you don't have to change the fitting. You'd be looking at around £15 for a single 5W LED!