Cleveland has it's first business to fully embrace wind power to fulfill it's power needs, and it's a junkyard.
Jon Kaplan, owner of Pearl Road Auto Parts, has been considering this move and researching it for more than fifteen years.
On Thursday, construction of a 140-foot tower topped with a wind turbine complete, he made the oficial transition and began generating his own electricity at his salvage yard.
He said "The wind turbine's really a perfect fit here." "That's all we do here is recycle. We recycle mercury switches, freon, gasoline, and now we're going to produce electricity."
The cost of the reconditioned turbine, tower construction and final installation was nearly $450,000.
However, his monthly electric bill was running about $2,000. Between thne savings in monthly utility bills and sizeable government incentives, he believes that the wind turbine will pay for itself in only eight years, or possibly less.
He also is moving into the wind turbine business with the formation of his new company, Pearlwind.
"They make sense for any business that uses $2,000 a month in electricity," he said.
Stefanie Spear is the project manager for Kaplan's switch to wind power.
"The big advantage to the business owner is knowing what you will have to pay for electricity," she said.
Spear firmly believes that Cleveland is in an excellent position to make wind turbine manufacturing the next big industry for the area.
"Ohio is already the number two state in manufacturing renewable energy components. We should manufacture wind turbines, put 'em together and ship them around the world. We could become the leaders in this technology, right here in Cleveland," Spear said.
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