A bit proud & sycophantic ...but so what!? (warning treacley goo alert)

[MR GUS]

 VERY proud of my 4 yr old (she doesn't have everything green shoved down her throat)

 ....Having stuck a Wall on / off Bye bye standby switch on within reach of the young-un, she has (every darn day)
TURNED IT OFF, without fail either upon waking up or soon after (connected to her mathmos oil projector, lcd tv, freeview HDR & xbox,..xbox for dvds & stories / music at night)
If I turn it on in preparation for bed she thinks it may have been on all day & is annoyed / guilty with herself!

 think it's a combination of asking her to turn off tv when going out & having the 18 x 2 megawatt capability turbines close by, but needless to say I'm chuffed, she's asked for a small turbine for the garden, but we don't have the space for guy's
What do you reckon we can do as an alternate that she can see & learn from (PV panels don't move)!

[Richard Owen]

How about

*) Energy consumption meter. One of the ones with a plug and socket to show the consumption of an appliance. Then she could profile the house?
*) Vertical axis wind turbine. No vibration so you can put it on the house. Control system at low level for ease of maintenance and monitoring?

[martin]

NO vibration....................herrumph! - do I detect yet another rewriting of the rules of physics? Of course they vibrate!
(well, if they revolve they vibrate) - and there is no such thing as a "silent" mount either...........
A 4- year old needs her beauty sleep - with a teapot, she'd lose loads of it!
Sorry, pet bete noir - roof-mounted chocolate teapots

[MR GUS]

Well it needn't be outside her window! ..as long as she can check on it (ideally along the fence line of the field) then a small (wren)? or something that could be hooked up to outside lighting or owt'd be a contender

[martin]

I'm all for her having a "personal" wind turbine (even if it doesn't "pay for itself"), but if you've ever rested your head against a turbine pole when the turbine is revolving (even a tiddler like a Wren), you'll notice an 'orrible dentist's drill grinding sound - if you attach the  turbine to your house structure in any way, that noise WILL transmit into the structure - in the dead of night, it's worse than ravenous rats gnawing at the beams. Stick it on a pole in the garden, and you'll have no problems!
Incidentally (and strangely coincidentally), I flogged my Wren to someone who roof-mounted it - it has now been removed bacause of precisely the problem I outlined!
I'd go for one of Ivan's "portable" 300 watters - under £300, and all the control circuitry built-in! (I'm prejudiced, I've got one that's due to go up shortly in my garden - on a pole )

[Richard Owen]

Martin,

You contend that vertical axis wind turbines vibrate than give examples of horizontal axis models.

Which VAWTs have you experience of that vibrate?

[martin]

it doesn't matter a flying fig which way the blades are attached, or which way round it revolves - you've essentially got the same device! If anything I'd suspect that the vawt is more likely to vibrate as it is inherently a more unstable model because the wringing loads on the bearing are going to be far higher!
I'm somewhat at a loss to understand why you think a VAWT would vibrate less.......

[billi]

solar stirling  Perhaps

billi

[MR GUS]

..what exactly is that billi?  (excuse my ignorance)

[Ivan]

MR. Gus,

Top marks to your daughter. The younger generation completely see the need for conservation of energy. The older generation (that lived through the war) also see it. It's us in the middle that seem blind to the obvious. You can rest assured that her voice will be contributing to decision making in a few decades time.

How about a home-made wind turbine? Before you dismiss the idea, have a look at Ben's Gotwind site (www.gotwind.org) - it's full of really simple ideas how to make wind turbines that produce very small amounts of power. Most are very easy to make. Blades can be cut from templates downloaded, printed and drawn around onto plastic downpipe, the generators are made from all sorts of things such as old hard drive or disk drive motors etc. All can be scrounged and doesn't require a lot of skill to put together.

Wind turbines are a lot more interesting for a 4 year old than a solar panel (hence all the kids windmill toys).

If you want to spend a bit of money how about a small scale DIY solar panel made between you, and then fit a real Navitron solar panel and tell her that most of the water she uses is being heated by the sun?

[Ivan]

I've got one (solar stirling engine). They cost around £230. Fascinating. They spin at around 2000rpm (and make a lot of clattery noise whilst doing so). You need bright sunshine, and it's got to be aimed at the sun, but it must develop significant power, although I've never measured it.

[billi]

a so called hot air engine named stirling (robert Stirling ) invented similar time as a steamturbine

The sun is concentrated in this model onto a chamber (piston) hot air expands in this chamber to make the piston move....

just google for stirling engine  and donot get addicted  

billi

[MR GUS]

..perfect for the enquiring " must touch everything" 4 yr old mind then! 

Actually a basic wee hand-made turbine could be fun (will go look).

 Think this kid will appreciate hot water from the sun (by about 8 yrs old if now is anything to go by) ..she understands jumpers & proper fires v thermostats & such, so I just know she'll get a buzz from solar baths et al.
 saw a little wind generating led light plastic turbine , so might start there & build up!

[renewablejohn]

Mr Gus

How about making a wind turbine from a cane, lemonade bottle and a nail.just cut 3 sides of an oblong on both sides of the bottle the same way round. fold out the flaps, push a nail through the centre of the lemonade bottle slide the cane through the neck of the bottle onto the nail and hey presto you have a wind turbine bird scarer for the garden. You could then paint with bright colours for added effect.

Who said going green was expensive.

[MR GUS]

Don't get me wrong toys are fine (there's enough of em)!
 Due to Illness in recent years & my dad dying when I was a wee nipper I decided to be a house dad till she go's to school (soon) so I like to spend a bit more time than normal trying to explain, show & teach her all & sundry, thus something with a visible (useful) outcome is always preferable, plus she likes to demonstrate her own understanding of things as time (& brain) progress, so working things that deliver are sort of what i'm aiming at, as well as firing up her neurons, (a bit like Johnny ball used to)