Calculating Wind Turbines kW and Other Mysteries
I have spent my entire morning calculating and re-calculating wind turbines’ kW—their capacities and limits for generating electricity and energy in kilowatts per hour. I consider this morning-long math marathon a mark of my emerging sophistication as a windophile, a crucial step in my apprenticeship as a “windsmith.” Yes, Paul Gipe, author of the seminal text on wind power, dubbed the experts in all things windy “windsmiths.” I like it; I want to become one; hence the protracted math homework on wind turbines’ “kW.”
Working with all my formulae and variables for wind turbines’ kW, I inadvertently, fortunately have begun to sort my “need-to-know” list from my “wish-I-knew” list. For example, I understand that “kilowatt” is the standard unit of measure for generating and consuming electricity; I do not really need to understand the relationship between watts and volts—at least, not yet anyway. I must remember, though, that most of my appliances run on twelve volt alternating current, and I cannot connect my (still imaginary) wind turbine directly to my household power without running it, first, through an inverter or transformer, converting it from direct current to alternating current. Working-out my (still in the catalogue) wind turbine’s “kW,” I have mastered the difference between “power” and “energy”: Oh sure, you think the two words represent the same atomic stuff surging through the wires, but “power” tells me what my (I should buy it) wind turbine can crank out in any old split-second. “Energy,” on the other hand, tells me what my (durable, reliable, but still imaginary) wind turbine will produce over time—that kilowatt-hour deal that means so much. Yes, I should know my wind turbine’s kW power, but I absolutely must know my wind turbine’s kW energy…first in kilowatt hours, for the sake of comparison, and then in kilowatts per month for the sake of calculating supply and demand.
Honestly, had I known my life as a supermom would involve these sophisticated equations and engineering concepts, I would have changed my Berkeley major from English to Engineering. The way I see it, calculating my wind turbine’s kW requires exactly the same intellect and imagination as conjuring the manifold meanings in “Nature never did betray the heart that loved her.” C’mon, if I can do Wordsworth, surely I can do Watt times 1000. “Wind turbine kW” will become my favorite metaphor for “dollars saved.”
As I crunch numbers, I keep my fingers crossed my (still imaginary) wind turbine’s kW will total at least 500. I break even at 500. You see, with aggressive conservation—especially with turning down the wintertime heating to the threshold of hypothermia and turning up the summertime margin of “cool” to the brink of heat exhaustion—we have cut our electric bill by nearly 50%. Now, if only we could give-up food that requires refrigeration… Last month we used 500 kilowatts of electricity. I need to determine whether my (could-become-real) wind turbine’s kW can measure-up against that 500kw standard.
Watch me complete my windsmith’s midterm: The very biggest and best “small” wind turbine has the power to produce 50kw—in a gale. On average, it runs at 30% of its capacity, so its energy comes in at a respectable 15kw, and “average” is a word which here means approximately the same as “in an hour.” Okay, so my (I really want to buy it) wind turbine produces 15kw per hour or 360kw in a day. We consume 0.69kw each day. I do not even need to finish the problem to see that we could actually make some money on this deal. If I have done all my calculations correctly, I will produce six times my family’s needs each day.
Before I order that beauty from the catalogue, I will seek advice from a “real” windsmith, because no one ever would rely on an English major’s math.
Tags: electricity, energy, Kilowatt, wind, wind power, wind turbine Kw, wind turbines
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