小形風力発電

（English article is here.）

固定買取制度を通して、再生可能エネルギーの買い取りの対象として、風力発電があることを知りました。
太陽光発電に比べ、風を受け風車を回しての発電は故障が多そうだし、騒音もありそうだしとあまり良いイメージはありませんでした。

昨年の夏に偶然、風車を建てることができそうな候補地が見つかったため、ここに小規模の風力発電所を設置できるかもしれないと思い少し調べてみることにしました。

風車について

風車は自家消費用で発電する場合にはどの製品でも良いのですが、電力会社に売電をする場合は風車は規定の機関から認定を受けた風車でないとダメなようです。

2016年2月現在は13の風車が認定を受けておりその多くが海外の製品です。
リンク先の注にもありますが、調べていくと必要な風というのが風速5m/sということがわかってきました。


平均風速が5m/sの風況下では、例えば、リストにあるGaia-Wind Ltd. GW133というモデルでは、年間発電量が 27,502KWを見込むことができるというものです。

単純に 27,502 * 55 = 1,512,610 円の売電収入という計算になります。

もちろん、これに税金、監視費用、保険、年次メンテナンス（風力では必須）などの費用がかかってくるのであまり利益はないだろうという見方が一般的なようです。

風況について　

太陽光と違い風力は、当然ですが、どのくらいの風が吹くかにかかっくるので、風が吹かないと風車もただの置物となってしまいます。
候補地にどれくらいの風が吹くかを調べることが最も重要なわけですので、風況調査をすることにしました。

最低限求められるこの風速5m/s というのはどれくらいの風か調べると、木の葉が絶えず揺れ動く程度の強さの風ということでした。

その場にずっといるわけにもいかないので、風況調査のためのポールを設置し測定を開始しました。

ポール設置は以下の動画にあるような感じで施工してもらいました。

ポールの先端に、風況監視の風車を取り付けてあります。
Logic Energyというところから市販されているものでWindTracker/WindLoggerという製品で
す。これを使えば、風の向きと風速が計測できます。

安価である上に世界各地で実績のある製品のようで、同社にいる友達がブログで情報発信していますのでよろしければご一読いただければと思います。

http://www.windlogger.co.uk/blogs/news

私たちのSolar-Sharingも紹介してくれております。

これを使い約12日間風況を監視した結果が以下のグラフです。

結構ばらつきがあることがわかりました。風車にとってはあまり良いことではないようです。何より、平均風速が3.79m/sということで、5m/sに届いていないので難しいのかなと思いました。

その後、最低でも6ヶ月の監視期間が必要である、ということを耳にしもう少し様子を見ることにしています。

Occupied by chickens

There was a temporary rearrangement of animal powers on our farm.

There used to be two independent states on the farm: the Goat Kingdom and the Chicken Republic. 

Chicken Republic was more populated and had larger area, but the Goat Kingdom was greener and had more natural resources.

The news is that now, temporarily, the Goat Kingdom, abandoned by its Queen, has become part of the Chicken Republic. 

What happened is that it was decided that Natchan the Goat will not be coming to graze at the farm for a while - maybe until March. The reason is that there's little grass anyway and Natchan with big belly wouldn't walk or graze much. Natchan is all right, having good time at her home, where she gets a grazing time out of the shed every morning and evening. She will be back at the farm after her babies are born.

In the meantime, Natchan gave permission to the chickens to take care of her kingdom. Chickens are working hard to fulfill their duty.

So these days, the whole farm is occupied by lovely chickens. Don't expect any cute mammal, please.

OH, there is one! Recently spotted near the farm.

Although this one won't let you rub her neck, like Natchan the Goat would. 

I'd rather wait for Natchan to come back, and enjoy the chicken takeover in the meantime.

看板ができました！

(English)

随分遅くなりましたが、農場の看板ができました！

こちらです：

新看板1日目(2016/2/15)

「とりの遊び場　放し飼い卵直売」だそうです。

看板は兵庫県の自然木工房さんに作ってもらいました。
自然木工房さんはとてもいいものを手ごろな値段で作ってくれました。お勧めです。

看板はプロに作ってもらったので私たちの仕事として残ったのは、看板を柱に取り付けることだけでした。しかしこの作業一つでも計画が必要でした。看板をつけるには2人が必要ですが、信夫と私が同じときに揃って作業できる時間は最近少ないです。一昨日の夜はやっとできました。

「動くな！」

看板のおかげでやっと、発電所の前を通る人　――だいたい犬の散歩などをしている地元の方々――　に、ここは何という場所で、どこに連絡すればよいかという情報が伝わります。

そこで、電話の殺到やブログのアクセス数のスパイクを密かに期待していましたが、何も起きませんでした。
この無関心は交通量のせいです。農場の前の道路を通る人は一日平均5人ほどです。あまり賑やかな道ではありません。

売上につながる効果は全くありませんが、それでも看板は嬉しいです！

ニワトリ達は新しい看板に全く興味を示しません。（それはそれでいいのですが。）
（2016/2/16）

記録のため、私と看板の写真：

New signboard

（日本語）

We have finally set up a signboard on the farm!

This is it:

New signboard day one (2016/2/15)

"Chickens' playground
Free range eggs"

The signboard was made by Shizenmoku Koubou, a woodwork studio in Hyogo prefecture.

Shizenmoku Koubou did a great job for reasonable price. Highly recommended if you ever need a wooden something.

So the signboard was ready and the only job left to us was to attach it to a pole at the farm, but even this simple task needed some planning. Two people are necessary to do it but recently Nobuo and I are rarely available both at the same time. Finally we managed in the evening two days ago: 

"Hands up Signboard!" (2016/2/14)

Thanks to the signboard, passersby - mostly local residents walking their dogs - know what this place is and how to contact us. 

With so much information out there, I expected to be overwhelmed by phone calls and a blog access spike. But nothing happened.
This lack of interest can only be blamed on traffic. On average, about 5 people walk the road in front of our farm every day. It's not really a busy road. 

So the signboard has no business-promoting effect at all, but it's still nice to have it !

Chickens showed zero interest in the new object. (Which is just as well.)
(2016/2/16)

For historical record, this is me and the new signboard.

Pure hedonism and other news

News of the week:

1. Overnight camping attempt in new location.

2. New forage opportunities!

3. State of the workplace report, with Egg song.

4. This is pure hedonism.

1. Overnight camping attempt in new location.

Two days ago, two chickens were missing when I came to the farm in the evening to close the coop.

After checking all the places that chickens had tried to use as a bedroom in the past (when they couldn't find way home),  I started to worry that they might have been kidnapped after all. It's not easy to find missing chickens in the dark with just a phone flashlight. I was about to give up, but the hand of chickenlord was upon me and I found them safe and sound, sitting quietly in the Special Grass Box, property of Natchan the Goat. 

Both chickens were promptly returned home. They didn't protest much. In fact they were relieved.

2. New forage opportunities! (Until the goat comes back.)

Natchan the Goat was scheduled not to come to the farm for two days so I let chickens use Natchan's space in the meantime. Chickens appreciated it. 

3. State of the workplace report

Our chickens have very flexible working hours and they work largely unsupervised. I believe this would lead to some terrible working habits in humans, but not in chickens! Most of them do show up in the office (nest) once a day and do finish their task. They are highly motivated and I would love to think that it's thanks to my leadership skills, but it's not.  I suspect it's the pay and the benefits they get - far above chickens' average in Japan - that keeps their working morale so high. 

They don't like to be disturbed at work, so I had to be quick to gather material for this State of the workplace report.

February 8, 2016

Check the nest Check the nest There's an egg there!

After work, our chickens often sing the famous "I laid an egg!" song. It seems they have an unofficial competition who can sing the longest and loudest. 

This video shows the same hen singing one very long song. I cut the middle part because it was too long. The melody is a bit repetitive - that's the chicken style.

4. This is pure hedonism.

One of the favorite activities of our chickens is a dust bath. 

Dust bath is a nice and healthy hobby (Chickens clean their skin and feathers - it's their version of a shower). For an uninitiated viewer, dust bathing might at first look like seizures, but in fact chickens are immensely enjoying themselves. So much that they look obscenely hedonistic.  

It's like humans spending a day in hot spa - they can't stop.

Hens in the video are accompanied by The-Not-The-Boss rooster, who is generally more approachable than The-Boss, who is basically just narcissistic and arrogant. 

Living in the moment - chickens certainly know how to do that!

Breaking news: New toy discovered.

As the year rolled into its second month, it's time to post a few fresh pictures of the chickens and the goat. Here are some photos from last week.

The pictures show breaking news: Chickens discovered a new toy! It's ice.

Ice on our farm is an outcome of 100% natural magic applied to a bucket of water on cold nights.

There are two ways how to play with bucket ice, depending on where exactly the ice is located.

1. Ice is still inside of the bucket.  

This version is well suited for individual game. (see pictures below.)

2. Ice is outside of the bucket.

The bucket ice can also be played with after it had been thrown out of the bucket. 

This version is perfect for a collective game. (see pictures below below below).

Version 1 (Ice is inside the bucket. Individual game.)

Ice bucket challenge.

For better demonstration, here is video:

Version 2  (Ice outside the bucket. Collective game.)

Rules are unknown.

 For better demonstration of collective game, here is video:

Unfortunately, ice is only available after very cold nights. For example yesterday, there was no ice, just water. No one can have every thing. 

31 January 2016. No ice today.

***** End of breaking news *****

Here is Natchan the Goat yesterday morning. Her belly is getting really big, everyone is looking forward to Natchan's babies!!

***** End of all news  *****