Windmill saves cash, and the planet

Fred and Kathy Stockwell erected an 85-foot wind turbine and a 20-module photovoltaic panel in the back of their home on Yellow Springs-Fairfield Road this May to supply their home and the region’s electric grid with renewable energy.

By Lauren Heaton

It was one blue sky day last week when winds gusted up to 25 miles per hour that Kathy and Fred Stockwell, without lifting a finger, were busy generating electricity right in their back yard. The 85-foot windmill and the 20-module photovoltaic panel they erected on their property in May were doing all the work to capture the power of two of Ohio’s most abundant renewable energy sources, the sun and the wind.

The squat, paddle windmill that Kathy Stockwell grew up with on her parents’ farm on the corner of East Enon and Yellow Springs-Fairfield roads was the precursor to the modern turbine that now lords over the entire 100-acre property where the couple now lives. The turbine’s three five-foot blades can generate a maximum of 250 kilowatts in 35 mile per hour winds. In June, with an average wind speed of 9 to 12 mph in this area, the Stockwells’ wind turbine generated over 82 kW hours. The power wasn’t enough to fuel the average monthly 600 kW of electricity the Stockwells use in their home, but it reduced the household’s dependence on nonrenewable fuels just a little, and the couple hopes that it will generate two or three times that amount of power when the winds kick up in the winter.
Though the wind turbine is the most visible attraction on the farm, in the summer time especially, it is actually the photovoltaic system the Stockwells have built on the roof of their old corn crib that generates the most renewable energy. Dubbed “the silent partner,” the 20 PV panels can produce a maximum of 270 kW when the sun is shining directly on the panels, and in June, the PV system generated about 300 kW hours.

Coupled with the wind energy, the Stockwells’ hybrid system provided nearly two-thirds of their average monthly electricity consumption. And if the systems were to function at their maximum capacity, they could provide virtually all of the couple’s electric power needs.

Anytime the sun is shining, the photovoltaic cells convert the light into energy, which is passed through an inverter that changes the current from direct current to alternating current for use in the home, according to greenenergyohio.org, a Web site focused on environmental sustainability. Similarly, anytime the wind is blowing above 7 mph, the wind turbine uses an inverter to convert the energy generated to a usable form that can power a common lightbulb.

The system that the Stockwells have invested in for the good of their farm and the world’s environment, they said, reduces their dependence on the coal and natural gas that most utility providers, such as Dayton Power and Light, use to supply their customers with power. In addition, they are feeding power through net metering to the other electricity consumers on the grid during the times when they are producing more than they consume.

Installed by Dovetail Solar & Wind at approximately $25,000 apiece through a low-interest loan from the Ohio Department of Development, the PV panels and the wind turbine each require a certain amount of unobstructed space and are not necessarily an obvious purchase for the average homeowner. But for Fred Stockwell, who is a family physician in Xenia, the purchase is an investment of the disposable income that other people might choose to spend on cigarettes or Cadillacs. And the cost of the renewable energy systems is likely a more accurate reflection of the true cost of energy most Americans enjoy today at an unsustainably low price, he said.

The Stockwells attended the first Earth Day in New Haven, Conn., in 1970 and have always been concerned about the environmental impact of energy consumption. And when Fred Stockwell considers how the unyielding increase in the world’s carbon dioxide emissions will affect the environment in 30 years, as well as the cost to deal with those effects, he can easily justify paying more up front for the energy he uses.

“Energy is cheap now because we’re not paying the real cost, but 50 years from now when the flooding starts in Calcutta, then we’ll be able to see the real price,” he said, referencing the popular film An Inconvenient Truth that was released in 2006.

“Right now I’m not paying my share of the cost of that disaster in the future,” he said. “But how much is my polluting costing? And if we can prevent that disaster 20 to 30 years from now, how much is that worth today?”

In the immediate future, the system will also save the couple an untold amount on their electric bills, which Stockwell looks at as paying his bill for the next 10 years in one lump sum today. He estimates he and Kathy could recover the cost of the system in 10 to 15 years, depending on the public subsidies that are available to help pay for their initiative toward sustainable living.

The ODD offers grants to reimburse up to half the cost of residential and commercial installations of renewable energy systems, and the federal government offers $2,000 tax credits for residential installations and 30 percent tax credits for commercial ones.

The Stockwells’ wind turbine is the only one in Yellow Springs, and as far as they know, the next closest turbine is one on McPherson Road in Sugarcreek Township. And the Dull homestead in Dayton, also the site of the Future Energy and Conservation Center, an arm of the Dayton International Peace Museum, houses six turbines. All these properties, including the Stockwell farm, are listed on the annual self-guided Ohio Solar Tour on Oct. 6 and 7, an event which features over 200 residential and commercial sites with solar, wind, biomass, green design and energy-saving technologies.

It is too early to tell how the Stockwells’ hybrid system will perform in the coming years, but they are pleased to know that anytime the sun shines and the wind blows, they are contributing to the movement toward sustainability.

“If two-thirds of the energy I use is from renewable sources, then my carbon footprint has dropped by that much,” Fred Stockwell said. “We have an opportunity to make some choices to ride a bike, to use this kind of lightbulb, to use less period, and without doing those things, it’s a pretty expensive proposition right now.”

Contact: lheaton@ysnews.com