Looking for wind storage in homes
Currently Summerside is selling about 15 per cent of the energy from its wind turbines to New Brunswick, because there's no way to use all the electricity generated in the city. One factor is that the wind tends to blow more at night, when not as many people are using it.
At a recent council meeting, the city announced a new program asking homeowners to buy a special, ceramic space heater. The heaters use high-density bricks to store heat overnight that can be released to warm the house during the day.
City administrator Terry Murphy said the heaters are really no different than a furnace.
"The demand for the heat can be adjusted as you do today. In other words, you can set your thermostat at certain levels. It will be no different with this here," said Murphy.
But the heaters aren't cheap, about $2,000 each, so the city is offering a six-cent break on the first 2,500 kilowatt-hours as an incentive for those who buy them.
"We're looking at about $600 a year that could be beneficial to the consumer," said Murphy.
The city hopes the incentive will convince at least 100 homeowners to invest in one of the heaters in 2011.
Related News
Canadian Scientists say power utilities need to adapt to climate change
TORONTO - The increasing intensity of storms that lead to massive power outages highlights the need for Canada’s electrical utilities to be more robust and innovative, climate change scientists say.
“We need to plan to be more resilient in the face of the increasing chances of these events occurring,” University of New Brunswick climate change scientist Louise Comeau said in a recent interview.
The East Coast was walloped this week by the third storm in as many days, with high winds toppling trees and even part of a Halifax church steeple. Nova Scotia Power says it has weathered nine storm days so…
