![\"\"](\"https:\/\/energyrealist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/08\/windtronics.jpg\" "\\"windtronics\\"")
<\/a><\/p>\nPrice: about $6500 plus installation, which the Windtronics website<\/a> estimates at $1500 to $4000.\u00a0 These units are to be made available through ACE hardware stores.\u00a0 That\u2019s great news because I don\u2019t think residential alternative energy will take off until the units are visible at your local hardware store.<\/p>\n Subsidies are of course available, but differ by state and program and so forth, so you need to look at the current subsidy situation.\u00a0 Here is the DSIRE list for NJ<\/a>.<\/p>\n Which gets me onto some other thoughts. <\/strong><\/p>\n First my usual plug for JLC.\u00a0 An article in the August edition describes \u201cA Cost-Effective Energy Retrofit\u201d<\/strong> on a small house in California.\u00a0 The article describes how even an 80 year old house can be made airtight and then insulated to (and beyond) modern standards.\u00a0 Basically lots of air-sealing, dense pack cellulose, foam board over the wall sheathing and a small energy recovery ventilator (ERV).<\/p>\n So it\u2019s certainly possible.\u00a0 The effort saves energy and provides added comfort.<\/p>\n But it\u2019s not cheap.\u00a0 It is hard to see the financial justification for this project.\u00a0 The author states that the \u201cair-sealing and extra insulation added about $15,000 to the overall $140,000 cost of the project\u201d.\u00a0 I just can\u2019t see that amount of money being well spent on an ordinary old 2-bedroom house.\u00a0 [Sorry, but I am the realist]<\/p>\n Which leads me to remind myself that the new EPA Lead-safe requirements<\/strong> apply to anyone working on a pre-1978 house.\u00a0 Even if an air-sealer\/insulator is unlikely to do major renovation work they need to be aware of the requirements.\u00a0 Details here<\/a>.<\/p>\n The following title may be a bit over the top \u2013 but the points are valid and support the old \u201cif we do a little, we will achieve a little\u201d.<\/p>\n Many Americans Are Still Clueless on How to Save Energy<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cScienceDaily (Aug. 17, 2010) \u2014 Many Americans believe they can save energy with small behavior changes that actually achieve very little, and severely underestimate the major effects of switching to efficient, currently available technologies, says a new survey of Americans in 34 states. The study, which quizzed people on what they perceived as the most effective way to save energy, appears in this week’s Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences<\/em>.<\/p>\n The largest group, nearly 20 percent, cited turning off lights as the best approach — an action that affects energy budgets relatively little. Very few cited buying decisions that experts say would cut U.S. energy consumption dramatically, such as more efficient cars (cited by only 2.8 percent), more efficient appliances (cited by 3.2 percent) or weatherizing homes (cited by 2.1 percent). Previous researchers have concluded that households could reduce their energy consumption some 30 percent by making such choices — all without waiting for new technologies, making big economic sacrifices or losing their sense of well-being.\u201d<\/p>\n The study is also reported and analyzed in The Economist of August 21, 2010.\u00a0 The point made here is that we are \u201ccomfortable\u201d with the energy use of a 100W light bulb.\u00a0 By comparison we (or at least the people in the study) overestimate the energy use of a laptop, but badly underestimate what it costs to run an aircon unit or a clothes dryer.<\/p>\n And from the other side of the planet:<\/strong><\/p>\n “AUSTRALIA could switch completely to renewable energy within a decade by building a dozen vast, new solar power stations and about 6500 wind turbines, according to a major new study<\/a>.”<\/p>\n Of course it’s technically possible, just not politically and economically.\u00a0 But we could be there in 25 years and create the biggest boom ever.<\/p>\n