We got a fairly strong reaction to Tuesday's story on Bill Ramirez's illegal wind turbine up in Rancho Palos Verdes. Some endorsed Rameriz's green vision, others called the turbine ugly and said it shouldn't be allowed.
Regardless, reporter Nick Green was reminded of a link sent to him months after the controversy over a planned turbine at a Torrance elementary school. (That plan was dropped after a neighborhood outcry.)
A turbine on a high school campus in Ohio fell apart with a big bang back in February, according to a local news report.
As for our local turbine in RPV ... here's a few additional pieces of information: No, Ramirez isn't hooked up to the SoCal Edison grid, a spokesman told me. Ramirez said he's powering equipment at his home and expects to eventually be able to feed back into the grid.
Because the turbine hasn't been up for that long, Ramirez said he's not exactly sure what the final effect will be on his bill, though the amount has gone down.
Wind energy advocates say a small wind system can cover 50 to 90 percent of a household electricity bill, but that of course depends on wind speed and turbine placement. There's some general info on "small wind" from lobbying group the American Wind Energy Assn.
Not sure yet when the RPV City Council will take up a possible policy change, since Tuesday's meeting was canceled due to lack of quorum. If you want to check out the staff report (fun stuff!) it's a PDFdownloan here.
Regardless, reporter Nick Green was reminded of a link sent to him months after the controversy over a planned turbine at a Torrance elementary school. (That plan was dropped after a neighborhood outcry.)
A turbine on a high school campus in Ohio fell apart with a big bang back in February, according to a local news report.
One 4-foot section of a blade was found in the high school student parking lot, where it hit about 20 yards away from the pole, then skidded another 20 yards, Gunner said. Another was almost directly beneath the turbine, while the third piece sailed about 25 to 30 yards into the end zone of Perkins' football stadium.No one was injured.
As for our local turbine in RPV ... here's a few additional pieces of information: No, Ramirez isn't hooked up to the SoCal Edison grid, a spokesman told me. Ramirez said he's powering equipment at his home and expects to eventually be able to feed back into the grid.
Because the turbine hasn't been up for that long, Ramirez said he's not exactly sure what the final effect will be on his bill, though the amount has gone down.
Wind energy advocates say a small wind system can cover 50 to 90 percent of a household electricity bill, but that of course depends on wind speed and turbine placement. There's some general info on "small wind" from lobbying group the American Wind Energy Assn.
Not sure yet when the RPV City Council will take up a possible policy change, since Tuesday's meeting was canceled due to lack of quorum. If you want to check out the staff report (fun stuff!) it's a PDFdownloan here.
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