Local and National governments in the Netherlands and Belgium are doing their part in helping to build a sustainable infrastructure. These local governments are experimenting with renewable energy sources for the power of for example street lights, parking meters and bus stops. In doing so they help the development of small scale renewable energy to improve and become more efficient in the future.
Solar powered parking meters
Solar power parking meters are becoming more and more a regular street view in the big cities of Western Europe. The city of The Hague for example has changed 100 of their parking meters with solar powered meters. The benefits of solar powered parking meters are the easy assembly (no cabling) and the lack of subscription fees or running costs to energy suppliers. Another positive side-effect of solar powered parking meters is that these are easy to move because they do not rely on cables.
Solar powered bus stops
South-Holland, a province of the Netherlands, is going to modernize its bus stops. During this process over 1.600 digital information signs are placed. These signs and the led lighting in the bus stops will be powered by solar energy. Modernizing these bus stops will yield the same benefits as solar powered parking meters. Assembly of the bus stops will be much easier, due the lack of cabling, and the bus stops can be easily replaced/moved.
Small wind turbines: Urban windmills
Small wind turbines, also called urban windmills, are wind turbines which can generate up to 20 KW of power. These urban windmills are usually placed in open areas. The website Greenchoice.nl participated in a test of testing eleven different urban windmills for their performance per cost. From this test types as the Skystream (€0.36 per kWh) and Montana (€0.52 per kWh) came out on top. Pay-back time of these turbines is around the ten years. The only downsize of this test is that if you what to reduce costs to €0.36 per kWh, no obstacles must be in the way (no buildings near the turbine).
Small scale wind turbines: Urban Turbines
The use of small scale wind energy, small wind turbines, is becoming a big development for individual companies who want to stand out by being green. Special Urban Turbines are in development, or already available in small quantities, to power the needs of small neighborhoods and office buildings. These turbines can generate up to 7.500 kWh and can be placed on top of rooftops. The development of these types of small wind turbines is only recently begun. In 2003 and 2004 the first Urban Turbines were placed on rooftops and are currently monitored for performance and potential problems.
Are there any small scale renewable energy projects going on in your country or neighborhood? If so, leave a comment below.
Sources: Infrasite.nl, Sleutelstad, Greenchoice, SenterNovem
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[...] Small scale renewable energy projects | Tomorrow is greener [...]
[...] Small scale renewable energy projects | Tomorrow is greener [...]
[...] Small scale renewable energy projects | Tomorrow is greener [...]
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[...] Small scale renewable energy projects | Tomorrow іѕ greener [...]
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Wind power is a good source of electricity but it also takes up lots of space just like solar power plants.:~*
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Let’s put it this way: our family is very green in lifestyles. We recycle and reuse everything we have in the house. The plus, we save about $285/month more by reusing everything as much as we can without throwing out to the garbage. One day, we were thinking about installing solar panels but the panels are way out of our budget. In our research, we found out the is an easy solution of saving electric, just chance the hungry electric burning incandescent bulbs to LED light bulbs. Simple as that, we save another $45 every month.
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Renewable energy is the future, why depend on fossil fuels when we can go renewable.*:;
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