Go to Otherpower.com Home Page Go to Forcefield Shopping Cart Go to Wondermagnet.com Home Page
Front Page - [Homebrewed Electricity-- (wind) (solar) (hydro) (steam) (controls) (storage) (mechanical)] - Classifieds - Site News
Everything - Newbies - [Remote Living-- (housing) (heat) (light) (water)] - Reviews - Diaries - Our Products
200w/500w/1kw/4kw/5kw | 4 comments (4 topical)
Re: 200w/500w/1kw/4kw/5kw (3.00 / 0) (#3)
by DanB on Thu Nov 05, 2009 at 06:56:23 AM MST

To expand on what RossW has said...
You misunderstand the units here.
Watts is a measure of 'power'... sort of like 'horsepower' (also a unit of power).  So a 2kW wind turbine is 'sort' of like a 3 horsepower engine.  It doesn't tell you anything about 'energy'... the engine could be off... on.. still in the box, doesn't matter!

Watt Hours is a unit of 'energy' either produced, or consumed.  A 100 Watt light bulb, left on for 10 hours will consume 1000 Watt hours (or 1kW hour) - just the same as a 2kW wind turbine in a steady 10mph wind for 10 hours, generating perhaps 200W might generate 2000 Watt hours (or 2kW hours).

So power ratings for wind turbines dont mean a lot...  just like the horsepower under the hood of your car doesn't mean much.  I could drive my old volvo  with its 100 horsepower engine 1000 miles... or you could drive your corvette with a 300 hp engine 1000 miles, at the end of the day the same 'work' was done.

How much energy a wind turbine generates depends on swept area (how big is the rotor) and wind speed...  the power rating of the turbine is not terribly important except for marketing purposes in most cases.  (if you want to sell a wind turbine, big numbers seem to help because most folks don't know better)



200w/500w/1kw/4kw/5kw | 4 comments (4 topical)

Menu
· create account
· How to use the board
· FAQs
· search the board
· Google search the board

Login
Make a new account
Username:
Password:

Powered by Scoop
You must be a registered user to post here. It's easy and free, and the link is on the upper right side of your page.
All trademarks and copyrights on this page are owned by their respective companies. Postings are owned by the poster, but may be deleted or moved at the ADMIN's sole discretion. The Rest © 2009 Forcefield.
You can Email the board ADMIN here. PLEASE include the username you signed up with!