Do it Yourself Home Energy Guides

Personal Wind Power 101

These days it seems like everyone is looking to go green. If youre one of those people who is thinking of using wind power to keep your house powered up, youre not alone.

Wind Energy Generation Technology is Now Easy

Getting started is a cinch if you buy a prefabricated wind turbine – one that is pre-made.

A wind power generator that can power you whole house can run from $ 5000- $ 20000. This would give you a payoff of ten, maybe even fifteen years, given average power expenses.

That might not be to bad, but if you want a better return and your the handy type you should consider building a wind power generator yourself.

Done properly and with a good plan you can get the same quality as the store-bought option for a fraction of the cost, maybe even as low as $ 200.

Youll need to put together the following materials to build your own wind turbine:

* DC Power Motor

* Metal Sheets for building the structure

* ABS or PVC pipe (for turbine blades)

* A hub to attach the motor and blades

* Tower (to hold up your blades)

* Deep-Cycle Battery (energy storage)

* A charge controlled to prevent battery overload

* Dump load (for excess power)

* AC Inverter (for AC power)

* Nuts and bolts (connects blades, hubs, and other pieces)

* Tools: socket set, screwdrivers, a grinder, a jigsaw, and sandpaper

It is easy to see that a do-it-yourself wind turbine requires more technical savvy than it takes to produce your own solar panels. This is because the device is more complicated mechanically.

Though youre putting in more work, youll find that a wind turbine produces far more power than a solar panel. The power generation is about 300 to 500 watts from your own windmill, if everything is assembled correctly. With that kind of power generation, those electricity bills wont be high for long.

Before you start any of this, be sure that your home is in an area where there is sufficient wind to justify a wind turbine. For best results, the wind should be about 10mph. If your house is near the ocean, in a mountainous region, or on open plains, youll have plenty of wind. If you are in an area with lots of trees and at low elevation, you may find less success.

If you find that your home is less-than-ideal for wind power, then it is time to consider solar panels for your “off the grid” living!

Brian Bradley is the Founding Writer of DIY Clean Energy, the internet’s leading resource on personal wind power and how to build wind power. He writes about his own experiences going green and removing himself from the grid.

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