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toronto's wind turbine
Paul Gipe speaks about wind power tomorrow (Tuesday July 20th) at Toronto’s C’est What pub. Paul is an author and advocate for the power of wind energy and his Wind Works site is a great resource. His talk is part of a Speakers Series, organised by the Community Bicycle Network of Toronto.
 
One of the topics Gipe will hopefully speak to is the affordability and effectiveness of wind turbines. I’m very proud of WindShare’s turbine down at Exhibition Place, here in Toronto, but there have been many questions about whether it (and other turbines) generate enough power to be economically feasible and if they make too much noise.
 
I’m still very partial to the distributed power model of energy generation, as seen in the roof top turbines I blogged about a few weeks ago. 
 
If everyone had a responsibilty (or incentive) to generate their own power through environmentally positive ways, then we’d finally recognise the true value of energy. People would start to see the energy they use as being something tangible that must be generated and that doesn’t simply come from the wall like magic. Only then will the idea of conservation really start to take over. If generating and maintaining even a portion of household’s energy were put in the hands of the home owner (or renter), then it would be placed on par with keeping the fridge stocked with food. It would become ‘normal’, acceptable and routine to think about conserving and maitaining a healthy stock of energy, so that your family isn’t left without power.
 
And speaking of renters, I’m eager to see if Paul Gipe has any suggestions for people who don’t own their own homes but are interested in generating their own energy. Is it possible? What are the landlord/tenant issues? If renters can get a communications company to put a satellite dish on their roof, then why not a wind turbine too?
 
I’m looking forward to Gipe’s talk, if you’re in town and interested then drop by. The talk starts at 6 pm (more details) at C’est What down on Front Street.
 
See you there.