Brian Williams
16th March 2017, 21:36
Disclaimer: Before wasting your time reading this post just note that I have a LONG way to go in both personal knowledge and practical skills to actually create anything of value or even offer any valuable input.
Meat and Potatoes:
So, in my area (Las Vegas) there are a few resources available to me. I can get a small plot of hell-blasted wasteland for cheap and there is a never-ending parade of city waste in the form of treadmill/washer/dryer/fan motors for the taking... I do love free.
Preliminary research seems to indicate that I could turn these motors into wind turbines each producing a small, but useful amount of energy.
Another interest of mine is alternative building... namely Cob construction (A labor intensive, but dirt cheep construction method using clay, sand, and straw). One of the nice things about cob is that it is remarkably sculptable.
I have an idea of combining the two interests that my brain tells me should work, but I can find no example of anyone doing anything similar-- this screams out to me that it is probably, in fact, a very bad idea.
Imagine a wall... seven feet high and five feet thick. In each seven foot length section of wall is a conical depression to channel the air to a wind turbine mounted inside the wall. Between each conical depression another wind turbine would be mounted to the top of the wall.
The thought behind this:
1) Walls make good property boundaries... why not make a functional one.
2) I know that wind speeds are pitiful at ground level... It is my hope to channel what wind there is into a little wind tunnel to help mitigate this fact.
3) If the little turbines are near ground level I can get at them to maintenance them easily. I'm talking about a small fleet of DIY turbines built cheep with low expectations for problem-free power.
4) I can build my own wall, but I would have to purchase a tower if I wanted to get up higher than ten feet or so. I'd rather scrounge in the dirt than pony up the dough.
So what do you old pros think? I'd like to combine my two interests, but building with Cob is a lot of work and constructing a fleet of turbines doesn't exactly sound like a picnic either... I think it would just be too much for my poor old soul to handle if the concept just didn't work AFTER I put in the sweat.
Meat and Potatoes:
So, in my area (Las Vegas) there are a few resources available to me. I can get a small plot of hell-blasted wasteland for cheap and there is a never-ending parade of city waste in the form of treadmill/washer/dryer/fan motors for the taking... I do love free.
Preliminary research seems to indicate that I could turn these motors into wind turbines each producing a small, but useful amount of energy.
Another interest of mine is alternative building... namely Cob construction (A labor intensive, but dirt cheep construction method using clay, sand, and straw). One of the nice things about cob is that it is remarkably sculptable.
I have an idea of combining the two interests that my brain tells me should work, but I can find no example of anyone doing anything similar-- this screams out to me that it is probably, in fact, a very bad idea.
Imagine a wall... seven feet high and five feet thick. In each seven foot length section of wall is a conical depression to channel the air to a wind turbine mounted inside the wall. Between each conical depression another wind turbine would be mounted to the top of the wall.
The thought behind this:
1) Walls make good property boundaries... why not make a functional one.
2) I know that wind speeds are pitiful at ground level... It is my hope to channel what wind there is into a little wind tunnel to help mitigate this fact.
3) If the little turbines are near ground level I can get at them to maintenance them easily. I'm talking about a small fleet of DIY turbines built cheep with low expectations for problem-free power.
4) I can build my own wall, but I would have to purchase a tower if I wanted to get up higher than ten feet or so. I'd rather scrounge in the dirt than pony up the dough.
So what do you old pros think? I'd like to combine my two interests, but building with Cob is a lot of work and constructing a fleet of turbines doesn't exactly sound like a picnic either... I think it would just be too much for my poor old soul to handle if the concept just didn't work AFTER I put in the sweat.