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The American Wind Energy Association (AWEA) launched the second phase of a campaign this week to educate consumers about the economic and environmental benefits of owning a small wind turbine. A mailing to 35,000 California households is a follow-up to a 65,000-piece mailing sent out this past spring to residents of Alameda, Kern, Los Angeles, San Bernardino, San Luis Obispo, Santa Cruz, Solano and Sonoma counties. The new mailing is being sent to roughly 25,000 people located in San Bernardino, Los Angeles, Kern, Solano and Alameda counties who received the initial mailing. Approximately 8,800 new potential small wind turbine owners are being contacted in Riverside, Napa, Mendocino, El Dorado and San Diego counties, and the remaining flyers are being distributed across 18 additional counties. All told, San Bernardino County residents will receive 38% of the flyers, Los Angeles County residents 25%, followed by Kern County residents with 7%, and Napa, Riverside and Solano residents with 5% each. "Small wind turbines are the most affordable renewable energy systems on the market today," commented Heather Rhoads-Weaver, the Small Wind Advocate for the American Wind Energy Association. "Despite this fact, this technology is highly underutilized in California -- as well as the rest of the nation. We hope this mailing will provide the information Californians need to decide whether they want to generate their own clean and reliable electricity." Funded by the California Energy Commission (CEC), which offers buy-down rebates that can cover up to 50% of the cost of a small wind turbine, the latest mailing employed a geographic information system (GIS) analysis to identify zip codes that contained the highest concentrations of potential small wind turbine customers. The initial 65,000 piece mailing was sent to selected county residents based on market activity, rebate eligibility, and owning lots at least one acre in size. The screening process for the new 35,000-piece mailing was more sophisticated. After determining rebate eligibility, areas not suitable for wind development because of high population densities or environmentally sensitive regions were first removed from consideration. The remaining areas were then ranked based on their overall wind energy potential, with a preference given to San Bernardino and Los Angeles counties to create the potential for substantial "cluster sales" in strong market areas. Materials were only sent to zip codes with at least 20% of the area featuring wind resources with average annual wind speeds of at least 10 mph, which the industry considers a Class 2 or adequate wind regime. Residents who own lots of one acre or more received standard flyers; 5,000 selected owners of five acres or more also received a more detailed consumer information booklet. California leads the nation in programs to make buying and installing a home wind turbine easier. With the help of California's incentives - rebates, a tax credit and net metering - a typical payback period for a small wind turbine will be six or seven years; after that, the wind power system generates virtually free electricity for the rest of its 30-year useful life. Since the savings are tax-free, this is equivalent to earning a return of 25% or more on a taxable investment. In addition, wind power does not create any by-products that pollute the air and water, nor does it contribute to global climate change. The mailing materials sent out included:
For more information about small wind turbines, buy-down rebates, and regions of the state where small wind turbines make economic sense, check out the following websites:
### AWEA, formed in 1974, is the national trade association of the U.S. wind energy |
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©
2002 by the American Wind Energy Association. |
