Progress on the home energy front.

Finally, there’s some good news about home energy generation that leads to self-sufficiency rather than global warming. A small step for our homes, but a giant leap forward for our climate and world.

Our friend Ben discovered this just this morning while reading a feature on MSN (http://msn.com/) called “10 Most Brilliant Products of 2009.” I had no idea what products they’d choose but couldn’t resist looking. And I can’t tell you how thrilled I was to see that both wind power and solar energy had taken great leaps forward in terms of both utility and affordability on a home scale.

The very first product listed was a home-scale wind turbine that works even at breeze rather than gale-force strength. The Honeywell Wind Turbine incorporates the generator into the blade wheel, so it produces power even when wind speeds are as low as 2 mph (opposed to 7-8 mph for standard turbines). At $5500 and 165 pounds, it’s the first wind turbine that seems feasible for real-life homeowners. (And yes, that is $5500 out of your pocket, but when we think of what we pay for fuel oil and electricity, it would probably pay for itself within a year.)

Also on the list is the Andalay AC Solar PV Panel. Our friend Ben has railed on this blog before about the expense and complication of home solar systems, which require DC-to-AC converters or all-DC home appliances (when standard appliances use AC), battery banks, and a degree in solar engineering to monitor and maintain. In the era of simple solar flashlights, solar traffic signs, solar stick-in-the-ground lights, and etc., this strikes our friend Ben as a ludicrous state of affairs.

But thanks to the Andalay panel, it looks like things are finally changing for the better. These panels incorporate microconverters, racks and wiring into the panels themselves, so they’ll power AC rather than DC appliances without the high-tech song and dance. As the article says, it’s “a big step toward true plug-and-play solar power for the home.” Unfortunately, they didn’t list a price for this one, but our friend Ben is still applauding.

The article lists a couple of other environmentally friendly inventions as well; I highly recommend it. But it’s these two that make my heart beat faster. Reading about them, our friend Ben can see a future where homes are self-powered in ways that don’t pollute our air and our world, that don’t require non-renewable fuels, that have no climatic impact. And finally, it looks like this future will arrive in my lifetime—maybe even in the next decade. In other words, in time to save us all.