Generating Electricity at Home With Wind Power
There are many reasons you may want to generate your own electricity with wind power, including:
- Breaking free from your public power utility. Perhaps you feel they are over charging for power, or their service is unreliable.
- Investing in one of the most cost effective, renewable energy resources. Once your initial investment has paid for itself, you will essentially have free power -- the only remaining cost being maintenance.
- Following through on your commitment to creating a cleaner, more environmentally friendly world. Wind energy is green in a big way! When you create your own green power, you know that you are no longer contributing to the demand for electricity generated from fossil fuels and nuclear technology.
- Generating power in locations that are too remote to receive power service. Wind power has been shown to be far more cost effective than diesel generators in suitable remote regions.
- Wind turbines are cool.
Wind Turbines Are Cool
Wind power is efficient and environmentally friendly!
There are many factors to take into consideration before setting up a wind turbine:
- What are your actual power requirement?
- Is there enough wind available on your property to meet your power requirements, and remain cost effective?
- Can you afford the initial startup costs of creating wind power for your home?
- Are you allowed to install a wind turbine on your property? If so, what are the bylaws and restrictions, if any?
- Is your goal to supplement or totally replace power from a public power utility?
If you do decide to install your own wind turbine for your home, you must choose the site of the installation carefully:
- Make sure that no nearby buildings, trees or other obstructions interfere with the wind reaching your wind turbine.
- The higher you can place your wind turbine the better, as wind speed increases with altitude.
- When available, hilltops, shorelines or wide open spaces are preferred.
- To decrease the likelihood of complaints and disputes, place your wind turbine as far away from your neighbours as possible.
- Plan your wind turbine site to have the minimum possible impact on the environment.
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Some interesting facts about generating wind power for your home:
- Twice the wind speed gives you eight times the power (up to the point where the wind turbine turns as fast as it can safely turn, at which point it's speed must be limited to prevent damage).
- The blades of a wind turbine turn using the same physics as the wings of an airplane.
- Creating a hybrid wind and solar power installation for your home can give you more consistent, reliable power.
- In some locations, you can sell any unused power to your public power utility for further profits.