Eco Friendly House And Garden

It really is a light for your garden powered only by the wind!

Imagine sitting outside in your garden or on your balcony and you are being mesmerised by your spinning light! Sometimes it is a solid tube of color and other times it is a pulsating spiral of energy!

How Does It Work?
Well, there are 14 LED lights embedded on the edges of the product which are powered by the spinning of the FireWinder in the wind.

The Firewinder itself is made of 100% recyclable materials and is moulded in the shape of a helix. This way it can catch the wind from any angle and any strength.

Any breeze over a few miles-per-hour will spin the helix around – giving the illusion of a rising edge and in daylight this is more like a mobile than a piece of cutting edge eco-technology!

However, what makes it light up are the 14 LED ‘bulbs’ or ‘patches’ spread out all up the outside edge of the spiral which are powered by the tiny turbines inside.

As it is the outer rising edge of the FireWinder that has the lights on it – when the wind picks up, these lights spin around really quickly forming a continuous band of rising light around the lamp: See Light Spinning.

In slower winds the light pattern is mesmerising and moves upwards around the FireWinder at differnt speeds, sometimes throbing in the breeze. But at higher wind speeds, the lights stay solid and so you will have a what appears to be a static column of light 14 bands high!

It really is something to just stare at for hours!

Is It More Of An Ornament Then?
I suppose you could say that. I mean it is not going to be bright enough for you to read books by or offer home security features – but it will be a welcome edition in gardens during those warmer summer months.

FireWinder is I think the first and only wind-powered outdoor lighting product – all the others on the market are solar-powered – and offer a less fun form of lighting! However, if you don’t get a lot of wind then you best opt for these!

One great eco-friendly product for garden lighting are the solar-powered ‘rock’ lights. As their name suggests, they are plastic ‘rocks’ that have a tilted and so hidden solar panal on the top. By day they look like a simple stone and by night they emit a quite powerful beam of light.

These come in a range of different sizes and offer a more continous and reliable solid light in the garden than the Firewinders, but are not so amazing to watch!

There are of course plenty of more light-looking solar powered lights for your garden – some white, some colored and even some color changing lights – but you can’t beat the spiral effect!

Small Scale Wind Turbines – Are They Worth It?

The simple answer is ‘yes’ of course they are – but the reason many people don’t buy and install large or small scale wind turbines is because too many reports base their decision on whether they are ‘cost-effective’ rather than whether or not they save ‘energy’.

This slightly detracts from the idea that we as a society are all supposed to be ‘saving energy’ and turns it into whether or not you personally are ‘saving money’.

If you genuinely want to live a more sustainable life then you should either buy or build your own wind turbine to reduce your dependence on fossil fuels – and help reduce the need (or excuse) for the government to build new coal-fired power stations.

I am well aware that there a financial constraints for all areas of our lives – including kids, holidays and mortgages – but if you have made a conscious effort to reduce your energy consumption then a wind turbine will of course take ages to ‘earn it’s cost back’ – as you are using less energy!

Wind turbines are more ‘cost effective’ if you use a lot of electricity on washing, drying, console games and heating and plan to continue to do so – as you will see the savings rack up a lot faster than those who are more energy-conscious.

So in my book, if you want to have an eco-friendly house – the cost shouldn’t be the main issue.

So, How Do Wind Turbines Work?
It all depends on something we have a lot of – and it’s free and carbon, nitrogen and methane free!

Wind turbines – as their name suggests – harness the power of the wind (which is free and ever coming) which in turn, rotate specially shaped wind turbine blades. This rotation transfers the energy from the blowing wind down into a turbine which changes it into another energy – electricity.

Depending on the size of the turbine and the strength and continued blowing of the wind you will produce more or less energy. I have seen small wind turbines on canal boats and residential wind turbines on garage roofs and sides of houses, larger ones in stables and in gardens, and of course ginormous wind turbines in large scale establishments or in wind farms.

Now, you can use that energy as it is created and store ‘spare’ energy to use later in special batteries or, you can let excess electricity be pumped back into the National Electricity Grid – and get paid for it!

Advantages And Disadvantages Of Wind Energy:
Depending on how fussy and detailed you want to be with your own argument, there are a few for either side.

Advantages:

• Cutting your Carbon Footprint – wind energy is green and renewable.
• Cutting your energy costs – wind energy is free.
• Cutting your reliance on large companies – no need to pay for their advertising!
• Becoming more self-sufficient – you can use as much or as little as you want.
• Saving the environment – you are no longer digging up the earth or the ocean floor.
• Living a sustainable lifestyle – you are only creating and using what you need.
• Being generous and sharing – you can offer/sell someone else any excess ‘free’ energy!
• Voting with your feet – you will be telling the government and larger energy companies that you no longer believe that their policies and actions are acceptable and that you would rather ‘step away’ than fund their activities.

Disadvantages:

• Not 100% energy cover – depending on your location, you may need top-ups from elsewhere.
• Costly initial expense – some wind turbines are expensive to buy or install.
• Planning permission needed – you may need to apply to your local council for permits.
• Ongoing maintenance – it won’t be expensive, but will need regular checking.
• Interested neighbors – you may find them staring at your wind turbine as they pass by, or keep asking you lots of questions about it all the time!

Join me in a few days time for my next article, which will have details on several small wind turbines that you could use in your garden or on your roof, and also some information on building your own wind turbines!

See you there.