Okay I'll bite, besides it cold and snowy outside so I'm not in a hurry to do my chores. I think you could do what your thinking, but I doubt it would make sense from a economics stand point. Wind turbines have some draw backs compared to solar. I don't want to discourage you, heck I say GO FOR IT! However, every time you convert from one type of energy to another there is significant losses. You're talking about going from linear wind energy then converting to rotary to electrical and finally to heat. Why not just get some of those new vacuum sealed solar water heaters, those things are the whip. I amassed all the parts to build a HAWT (horizontal axis wind turbine) several years ago, it would be a 1-1.5Kwh unit, but with the drop in the price voltaic panels, just the cost of a decent tower exceeded the cost of just buying additional panels. I thought it would be a good fit with my existing solar array, but alas, there the stuff sits taking up space in the shop. Of course after the dearth of sunlight we've been having the last three months I am seriously thinking of reviving that project. If or when I build it I do plan on using a hot water heating element for a dump load only. Also wind turbines require regular maintenance while the only thing solar panels require is to be repositioned twice a year. Well, that and some times I'll go out and brush the snow off them if the batteries are low and the snow hasn't shed off them. (I'm going, I'm going!).
Currently the future of alternative energy storage is focused on Vanadium by-pass or flow batteries. These batteries still have anodes and cathode plates to energize the electrolyte, but they have large reservoirs that allow the electrolyte to pass back and forth between the reservoirs depending on whether it's charging or discharging. These are huge batteries that depending size will be suitable for storing enough energy to power whole neighborhoods. Some of these batteries are already being beta tested. One suitably sized for individual homesteads IMHO is a foregone conclusion and will not doubt displace the Li-ion batteries being offered these days for residential applications. Currently for myself I plan on one more round of flooded lead acid batteries and see what is available ten years from now. After all, the advancements in technology is going on at a pretty rapid rate. Despite what a lot of "experts" that post on this forum say, alternative energy is coming no matter what. To put it in a perspective that might be easier for them to understand; consider aviation, we humans went from being earth bound misfits to landing a man on the MOON in just under 66 years! Heck we now have an airplane that is powered by sunlight. Sure it's not practicable right now, but how many people stood around back in 1903 and said "if god had wanted man to fly he would have given him wings"? Anyway, it looks to be letting up outside and the fire needs some wood.
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