Clark County woman has the answer for energy efficiency

By Becky Bosshart

The soft whirling sound coming from Nancy Tabor’s backyard resembles the hum of an air conditioner – one that had grown wings and taken to flight.

That is the sound of a 42-foot wind turbine with three 6-foot long blades spinning in the afternoon breeze. That’s also the sound of environmental progress. Tabor, 42, and her partner Allen McLane, owners of McLane Electric in Las Vegas, are producing their own power from a residential wind generator. And, according to Tabor, you can too.

Tabor and McLane are the local dealers for Skystream wind turbines. Since home wind generators are new in Southern Nevada, the couple decided to demonstrate it to potential clients by going through the process first. With an up-front investment of about $20,000, the turbine they installed in early May provides power to their four-bedroom ranch house on one acre near Lone Mountain. The gleaming steel turbine, which looks like it should be on a hillside in Germany or Denmark, often creates traffic congestion around their Clark County home.

“People sit outside and roll down windows and see if they can hear it,” says Tabor, who joined McLane in his electric business in 2002. “People ring our bell and ask to come in and check it out. Everybody is going to want one. It’s going to be like a washer. It just makes sense using our natural resources.”

A wind turbine uses the energy of the wind to generate electricity. Tabor and McLane’s house uses about 5,000 kilowatt hours a month. Depending on wind conditions, their Skystream turbine is expected to produce on average 400 to 1,000 kilowatt hours a month, she says.

When Tabor feels the wind, she gets excited. She can pull up a program on her computer showing how much energy they are producing, and how much carbon the Skystream has prevented from being released. Watching those graphs and counters can get addicting, Tabor says.

The couple is committed to sustainable living at home and work, but Tabor admits that the cost is high. At first. But NV Energy and federal rebates on wind energy will cover about 60 percent of the cost of their turbine. After rebates, the wind turbine will cost $7,500. Tabor says the permit process isn’t too difficult in the county.

Clark County residents living on a half-acre or more must apply for a variance, since the county doesn’t have a specific wind turbine code. Tabor handles all the permitting and rebate applications for customers. She’s quickly become an expert on local ordinances. She’s learned that it’s different for those in the city.

“The city knew this was going to be big,” Tabor says.

So, the city is in the process of developing a code specific to wind turbines. The couple hopes to see it adopted soon so they can install five turbines that have been pre-sold to city residents and businesses.

In addition to all this, Tabor’s job is to answer questions. Is there a chance a blade could fly off? No way, Tabor says. Not after Skystream spent $50 million in research and development. Could anything take it down? A car accident? A hurricane? Some B-movie monster? The turbine is bolted to a 6-foot-by-6-foot concrete base with a rebar cage. She can’t think of anything that would.

What the turbine will do – bring down your power bill.