Wind turbines for the home | Reviews and information on how to get cheap wind turbines for the home. DIY and kitset guides reviewed and ranked. http://www.wind-turbines-for-the-home.info/ en-us environment,energy,home improvement neville@nevillepettersson.com 2011 Wind Turbines For The Home Wind Turbines For The Home Facts The word is out! Domestic wind power is becoming cheaper and easier to set up every day. The main disadvantage of windmills for homes has always been the cost, but now that this wind turbine cost is now at an all-time low, putting together your own DIY wind turbine is becoming too appealing to ignore. Along with domestic solar panels, homemade wind power is the preferable choice for many Americans because of the low maintenance and clean energy production. Once you've got your unit set up, it virtually runs on autopilot, making little or no noise and not producing any harmful by-products. Wind Turbines For The Home Cost Let me say first off that the days of expensive contractors coming into your home and trying to sell you a unit for tens of thousands of dollars are long gone! Yes, they still exist and do still prey on the uninformed consumers, however you should be aware that you can get your own DIY wind turbine for a mere few hundred bucks. Now, I'm not talking about some piece of crap budget unit either. The same parts that the big companies are selling are now being manufactured and sold direct to the public. It's amazing to see how much these parts are being sold for now that there is an open and competitive market. It just goes to show how much people were being ripped off before. You've basically got two options; you can either buy a kitset unit. These types of units sell for about $1000 all up (see recommendations on this page). Or, what we recommend is that you simply buy the parts and put it together yourself. If done this way you can get a complete unit set up for under $200 ($300 - $400 if you buy all new parts). You can buy new and used parts through Amazon but you'll need a good guide to tell you how to put it all together and install it. There's a few things you need to know about placement, state regulations and technical aspects which a good guide will tell you. The best guides are listed in our monthly Top 10 list, so you'd be best advised to start there first as most of them also tell you where you can source cheaper parts. Wind Turbines For The Home For Sale If you're looking for a complete unit, but don't want to do the DIY thing then kitset wind turbines for home use are the best way to go because they come with a warranty and are shipped door-to-door. The best brands in terms of quality for price are Windmax, Windtura and Sunforce. You can pick up a brand new unit for under a grand. A bit of basic assembly and installation is necessary but they usually come with just enough instructions for you to get it done. These units are sold as either a free standing windmill (usually more expensive) or as a roof mounted unit. Many homeowners are installing rooftop units because their property doesn't have enough space for a tower unit, or sometimes they just want it to be a little more inconspicuous. http://www.wind-turbines-for-the-home.info/ 09 Aug 2011 03:18:39 GMT environment,energy,home improvement neville@nevillepettersson.com Wind Turbine Plans DIY Welcome to our site. If you're a home owner looking for wind turbine plans to help generate your own power at home, and you want to get it done as cheaply as possible, then you're in the right place! Our site, updated monthly, contains the best DIY wind turbine guides available for purchase anywhere. The companies producing these guides are all based in the U.S. and outline exactly how to build a wind turbine from scratch using new, used or DIY parts and components. Wind Turbine Plans Download You'll notice that all of the Top 10 DIY wind turbine guides are available for instant download online. Digital e-Books now offer so much more than regular books because they are interactive. As well as the standard wind turbine plans delivered in PDF format, the domestic wind power guides in our Top 10 list all come with video instructions, photos and even member support. Getting help when you're stuck or confused is invaluable in these types of projects. Conventional books just can't compete with this level of service. Wind Turbine Plans Free Not surprisingly, you won't find any full service wind turbine plans available for free download anywhere on the internet. However, there are a couple of good reliable sources where you can download, in pdf format, some basic wind turbine plans which will show you how to make a very small scale homemade wind turbine for a school project or science fair. Don't be too put off here, these plans will give you a good background of what is involved and what you need to build larger wind turbines for the home. Wind Turbine Plans PDF The first set of plans are from Rhode Island Community College and are aimed at grade 5 through to adults. http://faculty.ccri.edu/jbernardini/JB-Website/ENGR1020/1020-Handouts/Picoturbine001-plan11B.pdf. The second set of free windmills for electricity plans via pdf are from Penn State University. These wind turbine plans are more advanced than the Rhode Island plans and will show you how to build wind turbines for the home out of basic PVC pipes and also how to use a multi meter to record electrical data that your turbine generates. http://www.pserie.psu.edu/academic/engineering/AppliedEnergyCenter/teachers/handouts/PVCturbine.pdf Wind Turbine Plans For Sale All of the wind turbine plans reviewed on our site cost under $50. Most of them also include guides on how to build your own solar panel system at wholesale prices. Both wind and solar domestic options can be done yourself by sourcing the parts yourself and either installing them yourself, or getting a local sparky or handyman to wire them in and build a mounting mechanism, if needed. The wind turbine cost you'll get quoted from a big company will reach into the tens of thousands. Even with a generous subsidy, rebate or grant the price you'll pay will still be way too much. http://www.wind-turbines-for-the-home.info/wind-turbine-plans.html 24 Aug 2011 14:46:22 GMT environment,energy,home improvement neville@nevillepettersson.com Sauer Energy Sauer Energy is a revolutionary home and enterprise scale wind turbine firm that addresses an unmet market demand. It is a cost effective and consumer friendly firm that capitalizes on a growing patent portfolio of vertical axis wind turbines. Its VAWT systems are especially designed to attach to buildings. Their wind turbine products are designed to reduce power consumption and backup power shortages at home. Sauer Energy Inc. Sauer Energy Inc. is a development stage firm that manufactures wind turbines for residential and commercial uses. The company is a leading developer and manufacturer in the renewable energy industry. It revealed its first ever prototype last May 2011 at the WindPower Conference and Exhibition, the grandest wind energy trade show in the North American continent. The company’s WindPower model is aimed at providing a solution using wind capture for domestic and small building utilization. In a matter of four years, the firm’s vision of wind turbines for the home is now a reality. The company is committed to bring this innovative system to homeowners and small business owners to help them lower energy cost. Sauer Energy Wind Turbine The three blade wind turbine is made from resin, plastic and a UV protecting composite and expected to last for around twenty years. They offer wind turbines made from state of the art materials and even offer a ten year guarantee. The Sauer Energy concave and convex design takes advantage of the optimum wind power. Its vertical design reduces the weight and the gear box producing more energy with low/high speed capture. The vertical axis turbine can be easily installed by a single person, having only a few moving parts with it. Unlike the classic horizontal blade turbines, the WindCharger has the ability to generate energy even at 5 mph wind velocities. Moreover, the product is also able to capture winds blowing from any direction. It also has relatively low impact on bird populations and features a quite operation. Sauer Energy Stock Sauer Energy was transformed into a public company last 2010. This important milestone made the company open to new shareholders who are willing to invest in the selling and production of windmills for electricity. The firm is now known with its ticker symbol (SENY). With energy prices soaring higher, homes and small businesses are looking for ways to cut energy cost and minimize their carbon footprint. In the year 2009, many investors poured a record of $155B in the alternative energy industry. In the next ten years, the wind energy is expected to grow 4x its current size. Sauer Energy Review Sauer Energy features promising products that will make use of an alternative energy source, the wind. As a developer and maker of enterprise scale and home scale wind turbine systems, the company has already secured its third patent from the USPTO for the next generation of vertical axis wind turbines. The company aims to a be an industry leader by concentrating their efforts on developing proprietary designs that will capture wind more efficiently with the less cost as possible. As a new public firm, the SENY has raised its visibility and enhanced its opportunities for growth. http://www.wind-turbines-for-the-home.info/sauer-energy.html 05 Oct 2011 03:21:22 GMT environment,energy,home improvement neville@nevillepettersson.com Wind Power Pros And Cons Free Among all renewable energy sources, wind and solar power are among the fastest growing in the world. Wind power is generated by turbines which produce electricity when turned by the wind. In general the space needed for a site conducive to generating wind power would have at least a half acre or more of open land and have wind speeds averaging 10 MPH or more. Today, wind power is becoming more and more practical for home use and in many cases it is combined with solar power to supply all the electrical needs of a home. The systems complement each other as either system can be "on-grid" (tied into the conventional local utility electrical system) or "off-grid" (completely independent of conventional power). And naturally, there are both wind and solar energy pros and cons. Wind Power Pros And Cons List One advantage of using wind power is that it is 100% clean and great for the environment. Wind turbines produce no greenhouses gases, and no chemical pollutants. Wind is completely renewable and there will always be a supply. Further, winds as little as 10 MPH can be used to generate power. Another benefit of wind power is that it can be used in remote areas that have no access to conventional electricity. Wind energy can make less habitable areas much more comfortable to live in or go on vacation. But even in areas which also have conventional power, many states have buy back or "net metering" opportunities which allow you to "sell" (in effect) a portion of the electricity you generate back to the utility. With any system that has a high number of moving parts, maintenance cost and time can be issues. However, with many wind systems there are a reasonably lower number of moving parts and maintenance costs can be held in check. Finally, while a certain amount of open space is needed to generate wind energy, that space can still be used for other agricultural purposes at the same time, including gardening, light farming, and pasture use. For the cons list, it should be mentioned that it would be difficult for wind power to expand to a mass scale as it does require land that might otherwise be used for conventional large scale farming purposes. It is true that there are wind farms out in the desert, but as of today those are not the most cost-effective because of the long distance the power must travel before it can be used. The farther electricity has to travel the more of it is lost due to resistance. The technology of the future could provide an answer for that, however. Another potential drawback is in the eye of the beholder, as some people see wind farms as an eyesore. Hopefully, more people will see that the great benefits of wind power outweigh any such complaints. It should be noted that depending on the size of the system, manufactured wind farms can represent a fair amount of investment, sometimes in the tens of thousands of dollars. But even so, over time that money will be recouped in energy savings. And lastly, there have been several news stories about how many birds wind turbines unfortunately kill each year. However, studies have found that collisions with things like building windows and vehicles (along with natural predators) actually cause more avian deaths per year than residential wind turbines. Wind Power Pros And Cons Cost As mentioned, the initial equipment investment of a wind turbine system can be several thousand dollars, but as with solar energy, the proper way to measure wind turbine cost is by cost per watt. While professionally made and installed small residential wind systems can cost $5 or more per watt, there is always the option of the DIY wind turbine. Doing it yourself can lower costs to perhaps under a dollar per watt. In addition, it should be said that cost per watt is inversely proportional to the size of the system. That is to say that the larger a system is the more cost efficient it is. That makes sense since basically the same parts will be needed regardless of the size, so it doesn't cost that much more to make them a little bigger and much more electricity will be generated. If we look at recent cost trending for wind power we see that costs have been steadily coming down over the last several years. In fact, a 2011 report from the American Wind Energy Association stated that wind costs have dropped by 5 to 6 cents per Kilowatt-hour recently. It goes on to say that since 2005, 35% of all new power generation in the United States has come from wind turbines. That couldn't be true if costs were not trending in the right direction. Another cost element to be optimistic about is the growing number of governmental subsidies (for startup costs) and tax credits becoming available even to the residential user. In the US, some states are even granting property tax exemptions for using wind power. And the US is not alone. Many countries around the world are becoming more conscious of the benefits of wind power and are subsidizing growth in the industry to the benefit of both individuals and those running large scale wind farms. Wind Power Pros And Cons Of Solar Energy In the renewable energy world there has always been the friendly wind vs. solar debate. In many cases leaps in technology have favored one over the other for a time, but then the gap is narrowed by further advances. It's still a good idea, though, to review some basic differences and see where each stands today. One obvious difference is that wind turbines require much more space than solar panels. Another difference is that solar panels can only collect energy during sunlit hours, while wind energy can be collected around the clock. However, the actual collection of solar energy has tended to be a bit more consistent, and predictable. Winds can vary greatly over small periods of time while sunshine does not seem to vary by as large a degree. Seasons also affect the collection of energy differently for wind turbines and solar panels. On average, solar panels collect more energy during the summer months rather than the winter because the days are longer. With wind energy, the winter months can actually be the best harvesting season as in many places wintry winds are greater. So one thing you might start to notice is that any given location may be much better suited for either wind or solar depending on the attributes of the location. This should certainly be taken into account when considering solar vs. wind. Given differences like these, then, where the location is not a major factor many people have turned the debate from wind vs. solar to why not wind AND solar? Perhaps the greatest benefit of combining the two technologies on a residential level would be that it would be far easier to go completely off-grid and be fully self-sufficient for all of your power needs. But for several reasons this may not be feasible yet for the average homeowner. So, if you are still deciding between the two, and if your location is considered equally good for both wind and solar, then a general rule of thumb goes like this: the smaller the need for electricity the more efficient solar power is over wind. However, if the need is greater, then wind is more efficient. Right now it seems that a residential home is somewhere near the crossover point. If you are equally able to use either then you really can't go wrong either way. But if you intend to power your home and use comparatively more power then wind might be the way to go. If you use less, then perhaps solar is the better option. http://www.wind-turbines-for-the-home.info/wind-power-pros-and-cons.html 28 Oct 2011 08:09:53 GMT environment,energy,home improvement neville@nevillepettersson.com Windmills For Sale Nevada As the prices of oil and other fossil fuels continue to rise, and as environmental damage grows from the increasingly arcane and intrusive techniques needed to recover these fuels from their ever-shrinking deposits, the attractiveness of green energy also grows. A lot of the new attention being given to wind power and other renewable energy forms consists of research and large-scale investment, but in addition, you'll find opportunities to produce your own power for use at home. Here's one way to do that: windmills for sale. If you have winds on your property that average 9.8 mph or more at 50 meters above ground level, then wind power may be a viable green-energy alternative for you. Let's examine the economics of electricity from windmills in three U.S. states with very different on-the-ground conditions (Texas, California, and Colorado) before considering what may be the best option of all: building your own! Wind turbine cost, at the cheaper end, runs about $2,000 per kilowatt of capacity, with $4,000 to $8,000 per kilowatt being more usual, subject to rebates and other government incentive programs, but constructing your own windmill can greatly reduce this cost. The federal government also offers a 30% tax credit for installation of renewable energy systems, including wind. Windmills For Sale In Texas Texas produces more wind power than any other U.S. state, with more than 10,000 megawatts from over 40 large-scale projects. Because of its favorable conditions with lots of open plains and high, reliable winds, many parts of the state are especially good for wind power. While Chicago has the nickname, Dallas, Amarillo, Austin, and many other Texas cities could also be known as "the windy city." Windmills for homes either linked to the commercial grid or supplied with a battery for use when the wind isn't blowing can be a very good investment if you have a home in one of the windier parts of Texas. The federal Production Tax Credit (PTC) can help defray the cost of windmills for sale for home energy generation. However, Texas has no significant assistance program of its own for home wind energy production. Windmills For Sale In California Many parts of the Golden State experience strong and reliable winds blowing from the Pacific Ocean, particularly in Northern California, where winds typically blow from 11-14 mph. Even stronger winds (above 14 mph) are available in the Sierra Nevada Mountains. Wind energy supplied about 2.3 percent of California's total electricity production in 2007. Prior to April of 2011, California had in place the Emerging Renewables Program, which offered rebates of $3 per watt for the installation of small wind turbines (10 kilowatt or smaller), which could in some cases pay for the entire cost of the windmill. However, that program was suspended as of April of this year due to California's state budget problems. Windmills For Sale in Colorado Colorado ranks third in the nation in wind power as of 2010. With high elevation and high winds as a result of that, the potential for generation of wind power is very high. Colorado produces a substantial and growing proportion of its electricity from wind. Colorado has a "net-metering law," which requires electric utilities to connect homes and commercial customers up to a certain size to the grid. Power generated above use at any time results in a credit with the utility for purchase of electricity for times when the wind isn't blowing. At the end of the year, any power produced in excess of use is sold to the utility, although the rate is not high. This arrangement can eliminate the need for battery systems for storage, since the utility itself "stores" the power. Building Your Own Turbine The cost of a wind turbine system for your home can be reduced dramatically by using a DIY wind turbine, dropping it as low as $200. http://www.wind-turbines-for-the-home.info/windmills-for-sale.html 09 Nov 2011 09:17:56 GMT environment,energy,home improvement neville@nevillepettersson.com Most people in this world are more preoccupied with their technological gadgets and devices to take the time to think about the environment. Recent studies show that if we don't start taking individual steps towards bringing the environment back to a healthy state, the earth could become completely unlivable within the next decade. That is a scary thought to bear in mind so taking the proper steps towards improving our environment is important. The good thing about this though is that there are several energy alternatives that can really benefit the environment such as domestic wind power. In fact, the wind turbine cost is much less expensive in the long run than paying an energy bill every month. Learning about wind energy facts is the first step to take towards increasing our environment's health. Wind Energy Facts Pros And Cons The first thing to look at when learning about wind energy facts, are the pros and cons of wind energy. When you are made aware of the advantages and disadvantages of wind energy, you can better analyze whether or not it is worth buying a wind turbine. One of the biggest advantages of using wind power is that wind costs nothing to capture and is available all over the world. Another advantage to using wind energy to power your home is that it will never run out unlike oil. Other pros of wind energy include the fact that it doesn't pollute the environment and that the cost of turbines has largely decreased over the past few decades. On the other hand, taking a look at the cons of wind energy is also important. One of the biggest cons of wind energy is that you must rely on the wind at all times and during calm days you could run out of power. Other disadvantages include the fact that wind turbines can easily be damaged during heavy storms if they are not made with strong materials and the fact that some wind turbines create large amounts of noise. Wind Energy Facts And Figures As you look over the pros and cons you can clearly see that the pros clearly outnumber the cons. This makes it a lot more beneficial for a person to set up a domestic wind power system at home than pay an energy company for power. In fact, depending on your location, you could possibly be eligible for tax rebates. Some energy companies will even pay you for your excess unused energy every month which means that you could possibly get paid to own a wind turbine. Once the wind turbine is fully paid, you will never have to pay anything for power ever again unless you need to pay for repairs which should normally be quite rare. Wind power is strong enough to power entire homes and there is actually enough wind kinetic energy in the world to provide up to 200 times more energy than other types of non-renewable energy such as oil. Wind Energy Facts And Information Taking the first step towards making this world a better place is a great way to help provide a great environment for future generations to live in. Since wind generators for home use are relatively affordable and they can often be combined with tax rebates, the savings will end up being profitable in no time. Once your wind turbine is fully setup, you will never have to worry about losing power again. Backing up your wind turbine with additional batteries is also a great way to store unused energy so that you can have power even on the calmest days without wind. http://www.wind-turbines-for-the-home.info/wind-energy-facts.html 17 Dec 2011 14:53:03 GMT environment,energy,home improvement neville@nevillepettersson.com How To Construct A Wind Turbine Model With the increase in the cost of electricity these days, interest in generating one's own electric power is on the rise as well. Renewable energy (or "green energy") is high on most people's lists of the best ways to do this, for many reasons: it helps the environment, the most popular types incur no fuel costs, and it's the closest to being maintenance-free. Three types of renewable energy are most commonly used for the purpose: solar, wind, and biofuel. Wind power is attractive for homeowners who live in areas with strong and steady winds a number of feet above rooftop level. Depending on prevailing wind conditions, wind turbines can be cheaper to install than solar panels, and produce energy in both day and night, unlike solar panels. Commercially-purchased wind generators have costs running in the neighborhood of $2 per watt, and the installation costs and prices for other necessary components for regulating the power generation and turning into something you can use to run appliances push the cost of the system up further still. For that reason, building a wind turbine for themselves may interest many people. Building your own wind turbine requires some tools and some mechanical knowledge. It's not as simple as making a solar panel. The reward can be very great, however. What will be presented here is not a detailed guide but a general overview giving you an idea of what is involved in the way of work and materials. Components Of A Wind Turbine A wind turbine capable of generating electricity has the following components: blades to catch the wind and turn a shaft; a mounting that keeps the blades turned into the wind; a tower to raise the mounting up where the wind blows; a generator to turn the motion into electricity; and an electronic control system with batteries or an apparatus for net-metering. Of these, the last is probably best bought commercially (good buys can be found on eBay), unless you have a lot of electronics expertise. The blades of a wind turbine can be made of wood, but that's a lot more work than making them from sections of ABS piping cut into the proper curved shapes and fitted to a hub. Six inch piping works well and possesses the right curvature for the blades. Begin with a two-foot length of pipe. Quarter it into four pieces lengthwise, so that you end up with four 24-inch pieces. Each quarter will be cut into a shape that includes a stub for attaching it to the hub and tapering blades down to an outside end roughly half the size of the original quarter. Each length of pipe thus makes four blades, and you will want three of them for your turbine. The hub, to keep it simple, should attach directly to the generator shaft, so that you have the generator positioned right behind the blades. The tower needs to be capable of standing in a high wind -- 1 1/4 inch steel electrical conduit works well for the purpose, but any really strong pole that will allow mounting a bearing at the top which allows the turbine housing to pivot will work. The generator itself can be bought commercially for the purpose, or you can use a permanent-magnet motor as the generator, since a generator is basically a motor run backwards. For this, you want a motor that is rated with low rpm to high voltage. A motor that converts low voltage to high rpm's will do the same in the other direction, and may not generate much power with the relatively slow rotation driven by wind turbines. As noted above, you will need some mechanical aptitude to make your own wind turbine, but most of the parts are fairly simple to acquire and the design isn't tremendously difficult to put together. The savings in your electricity bill can be well worth it. http://www.wind-turbines-for-the-home.info/how-to-build-a-wind-turbine.html 03 Feb 2012 16:53:03 GMT environment,energy,home improvement neville@nevillepettersson.com