WILDWOOD — The City of Wildwood is thinking about “going green” and it isn’t just for St. Patrick’s Day.

Mayor Ernie Troiano announced Wednesday March 11 that the city was investigating off-setting power costs by implementing solar and wind power gathering devices. Residents, he said, could also benefit from powering their homes through a solar or wind-powered system.

Toiano said that the city’s engineering firm of Remington and Vernick would work with the residents to discuss what options are available for alternative energy resources.

Solar cells convert sunlight into another form of energy, in this case electricity, according to the American Solar Energy Society.

When the sunlight is reduced or stopped, for instance, when a cloud passes in front of the sun or when the sun goes down in the evening, the conversion process slows down or stops completely. When the sunlight returns, the conversion process resumes. Solar cells do not store electricity. At night, a solar electric system needs some form of energy storage, usually batteries, to draw upon instead of the solar cells.

A wind turbine, which is installed on top of a tall tower, collects kinetic energy from the wind and converts it to electricity that is compatible with a home's electrical system, according to the American Wind Energy Association.

In a normal residential application, a home is served simultaneously by the wind turbine and a local utility. If the wind speeds are low there will be no output from the turbine and all of the needed power is purchased from the utility. As wind speeds increase, turbine out-put increases and the amount of power purchased from the utility is proportionately decreased. When the turbine produces more power than the house needs, the extra electricity is sold to the utility. There are no batteries in a modern residential wind system.

However, getting a home outfitted with alternative energy isn’t as simple as setting up solar cells or a wind turbine on the roof of a house and City Engineer Marc DeBlasio said sometimes the process can be “confusing at the best of times.”

His firm, he said, would hold a public information session to look into the programs that would work best with residents.
While no firm date for the informative meeting with the public was set, the mayor estimated that a meeting could be set up within the next two weeks.

Troiano said that although the meeting would be geared toward Wildwood residents, he invited those who live outside of the city, who may interested in alternative energy, to attend.

“Some of you may want to take some of this information back to the town you live in,” he said.