George, Eric and Andy: Interesting zoning law... 1.5 acres for first turbine, 5 acres thereafter. Most zoning ordinances mandate a "fall zone" of 100 or 125 % but do not mandate property size. But 120 feet and up to 30 kW machine is not too bad. Most ordinances consider less than 100 kW "small wind".
I'm certainly no expert, but I did write a "Model Zoning Ordinance" for Ohio a year or two ago for my own purposes based largely on the Wisconsin Model Zoning Ordinance. http://www.renewwisconsin.org/wind/Toolbox-Zoning/Small%20Wind%20System%20Model%20Ordinance%2012-06.pdf Solar thermal is certainly more cost effective than photovoltaics. Any type of heating with photovoltaics is generally not such a good move unless you have a very special situation. Electricity is the most refined, highest quality type of energy... heat is the crudest, lowest quality. Therefore, using extremely expensive PV panels to generate heat usually doesn't make much sense. Unless, for example, you have an extremely tight thermal envelope and require only a small amount of heat to augment, say, an off-grid passive solar thermal home. Maybe... As for water, we need to catch and store it! This is going to be necessary for multiple reasons, not the least of which is the unpredictability of climatic patterns in our warming world or the fact that entire city and regional plumbing is constantly deteriorating and in need of repair and as we face peak oil it may be difficult to maintain this level of repair. Every single home should have a rainwater catchment system in place. Yes, large scale hydro isn't good for ecosystems... all those systems have already been built, however. I'm talking extremely small in comparison to these mega systems. Take Care: Ryan D. Hottle On Thu, Apr 24, 2008 at 11:16 AM, Andy Goodell <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > How about solar thermal oo? Supposedly 4x more efficient at warming > water than solar electric, and still has good NYS incentives. A full > system looks to be around $4000 for a family from estimates I have seen. > > While I love some concepts of small scale hydro, you need water, which > is certainly not on everyone's property, and the larger scale you go, > the more ecological effects are potentially an issue. > -Andy > > _______________________________________________ > For more information about sustainability in the Tompkins County area, > please visit: http://www.sustainabletompkins.org/ > > RSS, archives, subscription & listserv information for: > [email protected] > http://lists.mutualaid.org/mailman/listinfo/sustainabletompkins > free hosting by http://www.mutualaid.org > -- Ryan Darrell Hottle The Renaissance Group Program Manager www.ConserveFirst.com Global Climate Solutions www.GlobalClimateSolutions.org (coming soon!) Ohio Peak Oil Action (OPOA) Co-Founder, Director www.ohiopeakoilaction.org 30 N. Rose Blvd. Akron, OH 44022 (740) 258 8450 _______________________________________________ For more information about sustainability in the Tompkins County area, please visit: http://www.sustainabletompkins.org/ RSS, archives, subscription & listserv information for: [email protected] http://lists.mutualaid.org/mailman/listinfo/sustainabletompkins free hosting by http://www.mutualaid.org
