One of the great advents of the late 20th century was without doubt the satellite dish. Once Sky et al went head on into the domestic satellite TV market we had a new adornment for the home – and one that made a surprising statement about where you were in life.
Initially subscribers looked to be some kind of technological early adopters keen to make the next step to consuming the world’s media. But in time the dish became symbolic of the householders passion for sofatime. As housing estates started to bristle with dishes it also became the badge for those with too much time to kill. Certainly too much time to be satisfied with the measly offerings of terrestrial TV.
But we could see a new household appendage coming to our streets. This time it’s less a statement about your love for the goggle box and more about your passion for the environment.
A host of companies are now offering domestic wind turbines. They help keep your costs down from drawing on the national grid supply and, of course, it’s totally green. Some of them even provide the potential provide a tidy return on your investment as you ‘sell back’ excess power into the grid.
But the killer question is ‘what will the neighbours think?’. With the UK’s neighbourly spirit of one-upmanship you might initiate a local arms race as the diameter of turbine blades and Kwh ratings increase. Although that really depends on whether your neighbours are too busy shammying down the Prius to notice.
