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| 1/22/2009 12:46:00 PM | Email this article • Print this article |
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| The Harvest Moon Drive-In could soon be powered by the wind. |
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Harvest Moon to be powered by wind
Will Brumleve
Editor
A high school and a business in the area are hoping to use wind to power their facilities while offsetting their electricity bills.
While officials at Christ Lutheran High School in Buckley continue to investigate the possibility of installing a small wind turbine on the school's roof, the owner of the Harvest Moon Drive-In Theater in Gibson City was expecting to install two turbines at the outdoor theater sometime this week.
"We're going to be the first drive-in in America that will be wind-powered," said Mike Harroun of Onarga, owner of the Harvest Moon. "I'm in an association of drive-ins, and there's nobody else (doing this)."
Harroun also owns Angel Wind Energy Inc., a company that sells wind turbines for private use, including battery-operated turbines and windmills for RVs and boats.
"There's all kinds of wind turbines out there, and we sell them all," Harroun said. "And they pay for themselves."
The two turbines to be installed at the drive-in will provide power for the theater's equipment and will "go right into the (electric) grid," Harroun said. They will be programmable and "all computerized," he said.
The two turbines, made of steel, fiberglass and aluminum, use "two different technologies actually," Harroun noted.
One "looks like the big ones you see." It is about 35 feet tall with three blades about six feet in length. The other is about 30 feet tall, "and it's a spiral" that "works at lower wind speeds and does not produce as much electricity - but it doesn't cost near as much either," Harroun said. The price range for the turbines Harroun is using is between $6,500 and $18,000.
Meanwhile, Harroun expects to receive a tax rebate of $2,800 the first year they are installed and $1,200 the second year through the federal government.
In addition to the federal incentives and saving money on his power bill, Harroun said he installed the turbines because he believes "we need to start saving on energy."
Harroun said the private turbines involve "a lot of technology," and the wind industry is developing turbines that "basically plug in" to an electric outlet, similar to a washer or dryer.
Anyone interested in buying a private turbine from Harroun can call him at 815-471-2020 or visit the Web site www.angelwindenergy.com. Turbines can be bought through the Web site's online store.
CHRIST LUTHERAN'S PLANS
The private high school in Buckley is hoping to also install a miniature wind turbine on the building's roof for the same reasons.
Sandy Spitz, executive director of Christ Lutheran High School, said her school is "looking into wind power" and "eventually we'd like to tap into the wind turbine system."
She is investigating possible grant opportunities as well as corporate sponsorship to pay for a turbine that would be on the building's roof. Ideally, the turbine would feed directly into the power meter, Spitz said.
"We have wind day and night, so that would be a big benefit," Spitz said.
Based on information she acquired from another high school, a larger turbine installed at the other school cost around $60,000 for purchase and installation.
"But that's a pretty involved system," Spitz said, noting she assumed the turbine her school would be acquiring would cost much less.
That turbine stands four feet tall and had a 12-inch diameter.
. The one Spitz hopes to get would be even smaller.
"Anything that will turn in the wind can generate electricity," she noted. "They have some the size of large coffee cans; they spin on a vertical access instead of like a cartwheel."
Christ Lutheran also recently installed a solar panel on the roof over its lunch room to help offset electricity costs.
"It goes right into our kitchen panel," Spitz said. "It's got a meter on it that tells us how many watts it's kicking out to us. It varies depending on the directness and intensity of the sunlight, and things like how much ice we've had on the panel sometimes."
The watts it produces ranges from 50 to 1,000, Spitz said.
Spitz said the solar panel "goes directly into our meter to help alleviate our burden on the grid."
She said the school would probably need at least a dozen more one-kilowatt panels to power the entire building. She said she expects the existing solar panel to create roughly 1,400 kilowatt hours per year, for a school that used about 7,000 kilowatt hours last month.
PBL, PAXTON INTERESTED?
The mayor of Paxton, Bill Ingold, has said he would love to see a wind turbine installed at the water and sewer treatment plants to offset costs, but he said last week that it is more of a pipe dream or wish than something the city can afford to do at the moment.
Ingold said the city uses "an ungodly amount of electricity out there" at the sewer plant, so about two years ago he began investigating the possibility of using wind energy to save on costs.
Paxton Comptroller/Treasurer Julie Burgess said $60,000 was spent on electricity at the sewer plant and $48,000 at the water plant from February 2008 to January 2009 - easily the "biggest electrical expenses" for the city of Paxton. Street lighting comes in second at a cost of about $3,500 per month, Burgess said.
Meanwhile, the PBL School District continues to investigate the possibility of installing a turbine to help with electrical costs at the high school and junior high buildings, but FFA chapter sponsor Doug Anderson said no plans have been made to acquire a turbine. He said he was planning to attend a workshop with some of his students in Chicago last weekend in which wind farms would be discussed. He hoped to have a better understanding of the technology so he could begin determining if a turbine owned by the district could be used as an educational tool for his students.
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