Wind turbine could pay for itself in 14 years
By Anna Erickson - Park Rapids Enterprise - Published 12/13/08
 The Jacobsens hope to leave this place better than they found it by utilizing wind energy.
Rollie and Shar Jacobsen had a 120-foot wind turbine installed Thursday near their home, a few miles south of Park Rapids on 150th Street.
"I was always raised with the idea that you try to leave the campsite better than when you arrived," Rollie said. "I had a father that I greatly, greatly revered and he emphasized that." The couple moved to the Park Rapids area from Northfield in April to be closer to family. They worked with Winkelman's Environmentally Responsible Construction (WERC) in Brainerd to have the turbine installed.
"We thought this would be a good legacy of my father, doing something kind of renewable," Rollie said.
All the wind energy generated from the turbine will be sold to Itasca-Mantrap Cooperative Services.
"The hope is to generate enough electricity to offset that which our house produces," Rollie said. "This will kind of be a trade-off."
The estimate is that the wind turbine will create about 19,000 kilowatt hours a year, Shar said.
"That equals burning eight tons of coal, so that will be eight tons less of coal and emissions," she said.
The 120-foot wind turbine was chosen because it needed to be tall enough to be above the evergreen trees that surround it.
By Thursday afternoon, the turbine was up and running.
"It's creating kilowatts!" Shar exclaimed.
The wind turbine will run on its own when the wind is strong enough. It is relatively low maintenance for the Jacobsens.
The couple will have to fill out a logbook every few days to see how many kilowatts have been produced.
The payback period, in a conservation approach, will be about 14 years, Rollie said. And the lifespan of the turbine, with proper maintenance, is about 50 years.
"So I have a feeling we'll be generating electricity when we're not here," Rollie said.
Green energy savings won't stop at wind energy at the Jacobsen house.
The couple has plans to install solar panels next summer and also have solar water and a green furnace, they said. They are working with Winkelmans Environmentally Responsible Construction on those projects as well.
A wind turbine was installed near Park Rapids Century School last year and is used for educational purposes. The Jacobsens hope the school can utilize their wind turbine as well to compare data with the school's turbine.
Also, Shar said she hopes others will see the turbine and want to have one. A wind turbine could be very useful for a farm or any business, she said.
There are a few more people they've heard about who are thinking about installing wind turbines.
"We'd like to think it's the beginning of the snowball running down the hill," Shar said. "If we can also be a catalyst, that's a good thing." END
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