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Posted Jul 31, 2008, 5:29 PM
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Join Date: Jun 2006
Location: San Francisco & Tucson
Posts: 24,088
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The magic of wind power (in SF)
Quote:
Local
The magic of wind power
John Upton, The Examiner
2008-07-31 10:00:00.0
• Video Link
SAN FRANCISCO -
Scores of windmills, which for millennia have provided a familiar backdrop to agrarian life, are poised to blow into San Francisco’s urban core on the winds of technological and bureaucratic change.
Wind power is considered a renewable energy source, like solar. A wind turbine can look like a giant fan — simply put, the wind turns the blades, spinning a shaft connected to a generator to make electricity. Nationwide, the number of small, electricity-producing wind turbines grew from several thousand earlier this decade to more than 35,000 in 2007, according to the American Wind Energy Association.
In San Francisco, four wind-energy companies have set up shop; in April, Mayor Gavin Newsom announced the formation of a task force dedicated to looking at The City’s potential to pursue and encourage wind power. To date, six turbines have been installed in San Francisco, three on private homes.
Earlier this month, Newsom eliminated one of The City’s biggest barriers to residential wind energy by sending out directives asking planning and building-inspection departments to “expedite permitting and minimize costs” needed to install residential, commercial and municipal wind turbines in The City.
Prospective wind harvesters have been hamstrung by the lack of a standard turbine-permit application process, said San Francisco builder Robin Wilson, a task force member who last year founded Whirligig Inc., which sells and installs turbines.
Until now, San Francisco has been able to take only small steps on the path to wind power, those paved by city supervisors who have supported individual wind projects in their districts. Supervisor Tom Ammiano, a task-force member, tweaked height rules to help Todd Pelman, founder of the San Francisco start-up Blue Green Pacific, install a turbine on his Bernal Heights home. Board colleague Bevan Dufty also helped secure a permit for a residential turbine on a home in the Castro.
In addition to encouraging wind-power technology for residents and businesses, Newsom also ordered city departments to incorporate wind turbines into city facilities “whenever and wherever possible” in his July 17 directives.
There are currently no wind turbines operating on municipal buildings or city-owned land, however, and a study revealed the challenges San Francisco faces if it wants to create a large-scale wind-energy project.
Commissioned by The City in 2004, the study discovered “poor” economic feasibility for wind-energy projects at Pier 39, the San Francisco Zoo and Hunters Point — all waterfront locations. Treasure Island and the airport were found to harbor wind-energy potential, while Twin Peaks was the most promising site studied.
There is massive variation in the amount of wind energy that can be captured in San Francisco, which is dominated by microclimates and wind-tunneling buildings and streets.
“If you’re really interested in doing wind at your site,” suggested The City’s Environment Department Renewable Energy Program Manager Johanna Partin, “you should really put up a wind data-collection device for six months.”
The City is considering subsidizing the prices of so-called wind anemometers, which retail for $150, or renting them out to residents to help defray the costs of the measurement devices, Partin said.
On a larger scale, Partin said the new urban wind-power task force will also investigate The City’s options to build an offshore wind farm, similar to one recently approved in Massachusetts. In that project, 130 planned open-water turbines will produce 420 megawatts of electricity — more power than is produced by The City’s only remaining power plant at Potrero Hill.
jupton@sfexaminer.com
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Home turbines may avert bird death problem
Robin Wilson, who founded San Francisco based Whirligig Inc. to sell and install turbines, said she was pleased when Mayor Gavin Newsom took a tangible step to encourage the development of wind power in San Francisco by asking city departments to expedite permitting for turbines.
“I had about 30 names of people who definitely wanted them,” she said. “I’ve contacted all of them and everybody’s excited.”
The turbines sold by Wilson’s company sell for between $17,000 and $20,000, but a state rebate will slash the price by one-fourth or more, she said.
In windy conditions, one of the company’s 33- to 60-foot high windmills, which resemble scaled-down versions of the steel structures cemented into the Altamont Pass, could power a modest home, product specifications suggest.
The early-generation Altamont Pass turbines have earned ire and lawsuits from bird-lovers for their raptor-killing side effects, but Wilson said she hasn’t found any dead birds in the 11 months that she has used her company’s product at her Mission home. The Altamont Pass is in a migration route and the fast-spinning blades are invisible to birds, while Wilson said her products are easier to see.
— John Upton
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Newfangled gadgets prove effective so far
Less powerful but more compact turbines are being engineered in the Bayview workshop of start-up company Blue Green Pacific, which has installed elegant 6-foot-high, horizontally-rotating prototypes on top of a windswept garage in the Castro, primarily for testing purposes.
Founder Todd Pelman said he has a list of “hundreds” of Bay Area residents queuing for the virtually soundless toys. The products will have an “emotional” appeal, like a Prius, he said.
[i]Mike Koozmin/Special to The Examiner
Chris Beaudoin, above, shows how the turbine installed on the roof of his home in the Castro district works.[/b]
“One of these isn’t really going to make a difference — but if there’s many, then there’s an aggregate effect,” the former engineer said.
Pelman said he hopes to start selling prototypes within a year. The company, which is in “a race” to raise money and secure a position in the emerging market, aims to mass-market the appliances for under $5,000, he said.
— John Upton
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Ahead of the game
There are currently six wind-energy turbines in San Francisco.
- 45-foot vertical-axis windmill on a Mission neighborhood home
- Pair of 6-foot 22-inch-wide horizontally-rotating turbines on a Castro garage
- Similar 7-foot turbine on a Bernal Heights rooftop
- Vertical-axis windmill at the Randall Museum
- Pilot turbine on Treasure Island
Source: San Francisco Environment Department
By the numbers
34 Members of a city-sponsored urban wind-power task force, announced in April
6 Wind turbines in The City
0 City-owned wind turbines
4 San Francisco firms developing or selling wind turbines
9 Bay Area firms developing or selling wind turbines
8.2 mph Average wind speed 33 feet above Pier 39
12.7 mph Average wind speed 33 feet above Twin Peaks
Sources: San Francisco Environment Department, San Francisco Planning and Urban Research Association
LEANING GREEN: Wind-power companies outside of The City are praising San Francisco’s commitment to encouraging wind power. “We applaud Mayor Newsom and the city of San Francisco for taking a serious step toward becoming less dependent on fossil fuels,” said Paul Misso, CEO of Folsom-based Marquiss Wind Power. “With this move, San Francisco has signaled it’s serious about implementing clean technology, and other cities that strive to be green should take note.”
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Source of all: http://www.examiner.com/printa-15142...ind_power.html
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