With environmental regulations becoming strict and consumers preference for green becoming a reality, it is imperative for the industry to adopt clean technology. In its endeavour to help the small and the medium sector overcome problems, FE Enterprise will regularly bring to you write-ups on green technology being offered by various British companies through Technology Partnership Initiative Network of the Joint Environmental Markets Unit, the first point of contact within the British government for the environment industry.First in the series is a British example of how wind power can be used for not only cutting down on power cost but also using the same technology to sell the surplus.When the owners of Dotterel Cottage Farm in North Yorkshire in England wanted to cut their electricity costs for heating and ventilation of their pig breeding unit, they turned to Wind Power.The British company supplied them with a single generator, a Lagerway turbine rated at 80kw, with an 18-metre two-bladed rotorstanding on a 30-metre tower. It generates electricity at 415V and feeds it directly to the farm and the domestic mains system and when the turbine produced more than the farm needs, the surplus is sold to Yorkshire Electricity.This environmentally sustainable technology has a life expectancy of 20 to 25 years. Capital cost was £71,000 ($106,500); on site construction took only a week, and installation and connection cost just £1,300 ($1,950). The turbine supplies about 40 per cent of the farm's electricity, representing annual savings of around £9,000 with payback in less than 10 years.Now, the availability of cheap electricity has encouraged the owners of Dotterel Cottage Farm to diversify into grain milling. The technology is, therefore, ideal for small-scale business units away from regional centres.
