HINESBURG -- It may be a hall of learning, but Hinesburg's Carpenter-Carse Library building will soon become an educational showcase, with or without the books. This June, a small wind turbine will be installed in Hinesburg's Geprags Park that will power the library. The 2.5 kilowatt-hour turbine will be installed by Earth Turbines, a business recently founded by David Blittersdorf, founder of NRG Systems. The difference between the two businesses, Blittersdorf said, is NRG works on large-scale, wind-power projects, while Earth Turbines focuses on "home wind power" -- small wind power projects that will create enough power to run a single home or building.

HINESBURG -- It may be a hall of learning, but Hinesburg's Carpenter-Carse Library building will soon become an educational showcase, with or without the books.

This June, a small wind turbine will be installed in Hinesburg's Geprags Park that will power the library. The 2.5 kilowatt-hour turbine will be installed by Earth Turbines, a business recently founded by David Blittersdorf, founder of NRG Systems.

The difference between the two businesses, Blittersdorf said, is NRG works on large-scale, wind-power projects, while Earth Turbines focuses on "home wind power" -- small wind power projects that will create enough power to run a single home or building.

"After 25 years of NRG, I've gone back to what I always dreamed of building -- small wind," Blittersdorf said. "There's a huge void where small wind would be."

The turbine will be installed with money from a Vermont Department of Public Service grant, which stipulates that the turbine be placed on town-owned land and power a municipal or school building. The turbine will cost about $25,000.

Hinesburg Director of Buildings and Facilities Rocky Martin said the town initially hoped the turbine could feed power to Champlain Valley Union High School, but the site did not have enough wind. The town considered other sites, but settled on the library because it had good wind, a convenient location near Geprags Park and because it's a place of learning.

The 100-foot turbine will have a 14-foot diameter and will be visible from the intersection of Vermont 116, CVU Road and Shelburne Falls Road. A sensor on the turbine will feed information to a computer in the library to display real-time wind speed and electrical output.

Martin said the turbine might not furnish enough power to completely operate the library, but when the facility isn't open, the turbine will feed power into the power grid, resulting in credits to the library's power bill.

Through education, Blittersdorf said he hopes more people will consider using small turbines to power homes and businesses. It will become affordable, he said, when people become comfortable with the technology and companies are able to manufacture large numbers of turbines.

"You should build small wind turbines like you build cars -- you should be building thousands of them, not hundreds," Blittersdorf said. "That's what's necessary to get the cost down."

Contact Ashley Matthews at 651-4811 or amatthews@bfp.burlingtonfreepress.com.

 

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