Thursday, October 22, 2009

residential wind turbines

Home wind generators have the potential to greatly reduce or even eliminate electricity bills. So why don’t more people use them? The perception of high installation costs and poor payback misleads too many into doing nothing.

At a time of soaring electricity prices, you’d think that everyone would be interested in generating their own electricity. Saving money whilst helping the planet is a powerful incentive. However, a lot of people seem to be put off the idea by some common misconceptions. Here are some of the worst:

Home wind turbines are expensive to install.
This used to be the case. A few years ago a home wind turbine could cost well over $10,000, which put the payback period well towards the 20 year mark. Now, with electricity prices increasing, and the cost of systems decreasing, payback periods can be significantly reduced. If you don’t mind doing some of the work yourself, you can make and install your own wind generator for less than $200.

Wind generators don’t generate as much electricity as you expect.
This is often the case, but the fault usually lies with expecting too much, rather than the turbines delivering too little. Home wind turbines are usually rated at peak output – that is when they are producing the maximum possible amount of electricity. Unfortunately, the wind doesn’t always blow that hard. So you need to specify the output to be significantly higher than you think you need.One respected authority estimates that the actual power you normally get out of a wind generator is about 30% of the rated output, on average. But this obviously depends of how the turbine is sited (are there trees or buildings nearby which create turbulence in the air, reducing output?) and the actual wind speed.

The wind speed specified for the rated output is also very important. The electrical output of a wind turbine is proportional to the cube of the wind speed. Put another way, an increase in wind speed of 10% increases output by about 33% – and vice versa. You need to carefully consider the wind speed given for maximum output of your turbine, and weigh it against the average wind speed you can expect for your location (based on wind speed maps).

The lights go out when the wind drops.
If you had a very basic set up, and did not have a connection to the power grid, this would be the case. However, most systems retain a connection to the grid to cover them for windless days. This also enables them to sell back any excess electricity to the electricity company, so none of your precious wind generated power goes to waste. Even those that go totally ‘off grid’ tend to have batteries to store the excess power generated when you don’t need it for the times when you do.

It’s difficult to get approval to install a wind turbine.
It certainly used to be difficult to get approval to install a home wind turbine. But now most governments are more enthusiastic than they were to encourage home owners to generate their own power. Even the US government is putting a lot of effort into helping small scale power generation. Whether this change of heart is connected with their genuine conversion to the green energy cause, or whether it’s more related to a desire to minimise the stress on an ageing grid is a matter of opinion!

Wind turbines kill too many birds.
There certainly was a lot of concern about this in the past. However, recent studies have shown that far fewer birds are actually killed by wind turbines than previous predictions had suggested. Birds, it seems, are smart enough to avoid big things which move in predictable, consistent paths. On the other hand, they have much more trouble avoiding cars and trucks as they move so fast and in unpredictable paths. That’s why road transport is a much greater threat to our feathered friends!

Installing a home wind turbine is certainly not as difficult as many people believe. There are certain issues that you need to think about before you start your home generation project. But most people who can hold a screwdriver could build their own wind power system for a few hundred dollars given the right information.

Find out more about building your own home power generation system


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Comments-No responses yetResidential Wind Turbines




Residential wind turbines offer everyone the chance of generating useful quantities of free electricity. In the past they were seen as expensive ways of making sure everyone knew how ‘green’ you were. Now you can build your own wind turbine for a fraction of the retail costs, and cut your electricity bill by 80% or more.

To find out how to build your own residential wind turbine, click here

The idea of generating your own electricity is becoming more and more attractive:

Electricity bills seem to be increasing all of the time, regardless of what is happening on the global markets.
There is more and more concern about environmental issues. Burning fossil fuels to generate electricity uses up precious resources, and pours unnecessary CO2 into the atmosphere.
The west is increasingly dependant upon imports of fuels – often from sources which are not entirely friendly towards the west.
Decades of under-investment in infrastructure mean that the electricity networks are more prone to failure. Significant blackouts have already occurred in the USA, Canada, Australia and the UK.
Given these problems, who would not want to generate their own electricity? It may seem impractical or outrageously expensive to go ‘off grid’, but it need not be. So what are the options?

Solar power. Solar panels are improving every day, but a solar set-up still tends to be quite expensive for the amount for electricity which it can produce. The main disadvantage is that the sun doesn’t shine when you need it most – at night, or in winter.
Wind turbines. Many places around the world have sufficient average wind speed to make wind power a viable option. Relatively small residential wind turbines can generate a significant amount of electricity – savings of 80% or more are possible.
The keys to making a residential wind turbine work are:

Position. The average wind speed needs to be enough to make the project worthwhile. Fortunately there are average wind speed maps available to help you decide on your own location.
Rules. We live in a more and more regulated world, so you will need to comply with local laws on siting a wind turbine. Chances are that you will need to get permission from the local government wherever you live. Most authorities are more sympathetic towards ‘green energy’ now, but you will still need to check.
Cost. Typically, having a domestic wind turbine installed can cost $10,000 or more. Then all you have to look forward to is a 15 year or more payback time. If you are prepared to do some of the work yourself though, you can dramatically cut down on the initial investment – often below $200.
If you are interested in generating your own electricity, without spending $1000s the best way is to buy an experts guide. There are many guides on the market, but I think that the most comprehensive and well tested is Power 4 Homes.

Find out more about the best guide to residential wind turbines by clicking here




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