I went for a stroll this morning. I walked up the hill to the Northlands Job Corps School . The scho

I went for a stroll this morning. I walked up the hill to the Northlands Job Corps School . The school's campus and location one way car rentals europe are exceptionally beautiful, so I took my camera. The location is at the crest of a hill that provides views of the distant Adirondack mountains in New York, and of some of the nearer mountains in Vermont. The school was formerly the Weeks Schook -- a reformatory and orphanage.
I learned that the men were local farmers, and they were being given the cook's one way car rentals europe tour and explanation of the wind generator by the project manager. There is money left over from the grant to build two more such wind generators, one way car rentals europe and local farms are likely places for the sites.
This wind generator has a peak capacity of 100 kw. It is hoped to average 20% capacity factor over a whole year. Most wind on that site occurs in winter. 20% is pretty good. One farmer asked about the cost of wind power compared to conventional sources. The project manager one way car rentals europe got a pained look on his face and didn't residence inn lake buena vista answer. Clearly, the motivation was not money.
Then I learned that one of the farmers runs the Blue Spruce dairy farm nearby. He has 1000 cows. He also is a power generator. He installed a digester to make methane, and the methane gas runs engines that drive generators to make electric power. residence inn lake buena vista He told me that he can make up to 480 kw which is pretty good.
I asked about the investment. He said that they initially invested $1.3 million. That paid for itself, so he expanded residence inn lake buena vista it with an additional $1.7 million. He started 7 years ago. I tried doing the math (see below). He also mentioned, residence inn lake buena vista that after digesting, the manure he spreads is odor free. That's a big positive factor.
The math: 480 kw is worth about $24/hour wholesale, or about $72/hour retail. If that power level is maintained 70% of the time for a whole year, the value of the power produced is $441,504. one way car rentals europe The payback time for a $3 million investment at zero % interest is 6.8 years. Not bad. If he gets a 30% government subsidy on operations, his payback time is reduced to 5 years.
Down in West Charlton, NY, where we lived before cruising, a local farmer (Mr. Wood) has more than 1000 cows. His cows produce prodigious amounts residence inn lake buena vista of manure and he spreads it all around the area. Libby and I are thoroughly familiar with the odors. If I were still living there, I'd be tempted to consult with Farmer Wood to put in a similar digestion system there.
There are all kinds of hazards with using manure as fertilizer. the big problem is what are they feeding the cows, are they giving them steroids, fish products. Does the digester remove all contaminants before spreading on the ground. What are the chances of ecoli bacteria getting into the food we are now growing? one way car rentals europe We re only at the beginning residence inn lake buena vista stages of really understanding green farming. We don t believe in pesticides or herbicides. So glad to see that farmers are at least trying to go green with the wind generators.