London’s First Domestic Wind Turbine
Today’s BBC News online is carrying the story of Donnachadh McCarthy, a resident of south London, who was the first in any of the London boroughs to receive approval to install a domestic wind turbine on his property.
Donnachadh’s first planning application was refused over objections from one of his neighbours who mistakenly thought the turbine would kill her cat as well as concerns from the council officers in the Southwark borough who were worried that by giving permission to Donnachadh, they would have to let everyone have one. People are so silly!
Donnachadh submitted an amended application in a second attempt and that was approved three years ago, but it’s taken him this long to find a turbine model that was small and quiet enough for his urban neighbourhood, and it was installed yesterday.
The turbine that he choose cost £1000 (about $1785 USD) and an inverter added another £1000 to the total amount. Donnachadh projects that the system will produce about 600 kW hours over the course of a year, enough to power his lights. The turbine joins a solar-powered water heating system that was also recently installed.
Yay! Another small step in the right direction.
Here’s the article at the BBC.
2 opinions for London’s First Domestic Wind Turbine
GEORGE
Mar 28, 2006 at 2:14 pm
can you tell me from where i can get windturbine in london -uk for my house
Kevin Humphrey
Mar 28, 2006 at 3:39 pm
Hey George - I’m afraid that I wouldn’t have the first idea where to procure a wind turbine in London UK, as I’m across the pond in Canada. ;)
You may have some luck taking a look through the web directory at EcoStreet (http://ecostreet.com/index.php). Beyond that, I would suggest talking to some electricians in you local area and seeing if any of them know of suppliers available to you.
Best of luck in your hunt.
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