Home wind power

In Science Times on April 15, on page F3, there was an article on home wind turbine. Here is the link.

The first paragraph:

Wind turbines, once used primarily for farms and rural home far from electrical service, are becoming more common in heavily populated residential areas as homeowners are attracted to ease of use, financial incentives, and low environmental impact

more below the fold

There are several things driving this trend:

1. Growing ecological awareness.  It's no news that more and more people are getting worried about the environment.  This offers a way for them to do something about it.

2. New technology that lets people feed power back into the grid.  You can get more details of how to install a small wind turbine here

3. State laws requiring that utilities buy excess power at retail prices (rather than wholesale).  This is known (I think) as net metering.  As it says in the linked article, ideally, your meter will be spinning backwards. Utilities are required to offer net metering, but details vary by state. You can find details for your state here

4. Plug and play systems that make it easy for a homeowner to install and use the turbines, automatically switching from the grid to the turbine and back, as conditions change.

5. Tax credits.  On April 10, the Senate passed the Cantwell-Ensign amendment to the Senate Housing bill.  This extends a tax credit that

provides an incentive of two cents per kilowatt hour to facilities that produce electricity from renewable energy resources, including wind, biomass, geothermal, and hydropower. The credit can be claimed for 10 years, beginning on the date the qualified facility is placed in service. The facility must begin operation before the credit expires. The credit currently expires on December 31, 2008.

.  The vote was 88-8, but the 8 voting against contain some surprises:

Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-TN)
Sen. Jim Bunning (R-KY)
Sen. Robert Byrd (D-WV)
Sen. Thomas Carper (D-DE)
Sen. Christopher Dodd (D-CT)
Sen. Jon Kyl (R-AZ)
Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL)
Sen. George Voinovich (R-OH)

The four not voting were the three running for president, plus Dole.  But what's up with Byrd, Carper, and Dodd?

You can thank (or yell at) your Senator here
The bill is now set to go to the House. Contact your representative here

I'm no expert on this stuff.  I just saw the NYTimes article and followed up.  There are many energy experts on dailyKos, and I hope they will chime in with additional details, corrections (if any), explanations, and so on.  

I just wanted to spread some good news, for a change