Affordable Solar & Wind

Wind Turbines--build Your Own Home Wind Turbine

In the United States wind energy is the second biggest source of new energy outpaced only by natural gas. At the end of 2007 wind turbines were producing over 16000 megawatts of electric power and nearly one third of that capacity was installed in 2007. In 2008 about 1% of the united States electric power will be supplied by wind energy. Most of this of course is from large commercial wind turbines but an ever increasing amount is coming from small wind turbines installed by individuals. The home wind turbine is definitely coming into its own as more and more people realise that something must be done to decrease our dependence on electric power supplied by fossil fuel burning generating stations. Gas and coal powered electric power production has increased dramatically over the years and emissions from the fuels burnt in these facilities is a major source of atmospheric pollution.

Wind power by comparision is absolutely clean and the only objectiion to it,voiced by some people,is visual pollution from the arrays of wind turbines necessary for large scale power production. However the residential wind turbine poses no such problems. Relatively small and unobtrusive home wind turbines including vertical axis wind turbines are the key to small scale wind power generation. A combination of home solar panels-wind turbines can produce much of the power required by the average home. Small wind powered turbines are manufactured by a number of companies and can be readily set up either as a rooftop wind turbine or mounted on its own small tower. The recommended tower height is about 30 feet. These are relatively expensive but will pay for themselves in the course of time.

If you know how to build a wind turbine your home wind turbine will cost much less and fortunately this is fairly easy to do. Plans and instructions showing how to build your own wind turbine are readily available and thousands of people have built their own home made wind turbine. You will often be told that strong winds are needed for wind power generation. This is absolutely not so. Even gentle breezes will produce power which is stored in batteries till needed.

If you live far from electric power lines you either get by with no electric power or generate your own. Gasoline powered generators will do the job but they are expensive to run and heavy polluters. You may be fortunate enough to have a stream which can generate power for you using a water power system but these are usually difficult to build and expensive. In most situations a wind turbine is the best answer. You can in fact build your own wind turbine for much less than the price of a commercial model. You could install two or three of them and have plenty of power for all purposes. Building your own home wind turbine is a fairly simple project which the average home workshopper can easily manage. Wind power is the coming thing and will save you money as well as reducing atmospheric pollution. Why not try it?

About the Author

Like to know how to build your own low cost wind turbine easily? Check this out:
http://www.greenwindpowerturbine.com

Windmill/Wind Turbine Explosion

How many Wind Turbines would you need to power a city?

I am doing a project in Science (Essay) It involves Wind Turbines and Wind power. If there is a city of 122,000 people how many wind turbines would i need???? HELP ITS DUE IN TWO DAYS!!!!
PLEASE HELP! IF YOU DO THANK YOU SO MUCH!

Sounds fairly easy, unless you consider the reality. Some numbers that will help:
A normal home in a city will average about 1 kW, maybe 1.2 kW. This is about 1,000 Watts
So you are probably looking at a total average power demand of about 130,000 to 150,000 kW. In this range they start referring to power in terms of MegaWatts (MW), which equals 1000 kW. So your required average Power Demand is about 150 MW, or 15,000 kW.
The average for a single wind turbine is about 1.5 MW at full power. So if wind conditions are right --- and constant -- you would need about 100 Wind Turbines to supply the city.

Now the reality:
Wind is NOT constant --- and is not dependable. I think you need at least about a 7 mph wind, just to begin turning the propellers. If the wind can not remain at better than 7 mph, you get ZERO power. What then? So then in addition to the wind turbines, you need at least 150 MW of "other" generation -- such as Natural Gas Turbines (basically a stand alone jet engine) , or a coal fired power plant. So now you have expensive costs for "redundant" generation.
In addition -- this is their "maximum" generation at say a 15 mph wind. What happens when the wind is only 10 mph? You maybe get only 50 MW when you need 150 MW. Big Problem.
Then, the biggest problem: On a hot 95 degree summer day -- when everyone needs power the most -- everyone is running their Air Conditioning all out. But now that is the days the wind is NOT blowing. If the wind was blowing -- it would be much cooler. So on the hottest days, when the most power is required -- the wind does not blow --- and the wind turbines produce no power.
Then the maintenance issues are so bad on these wind turbine units that many companies are just abandoning these wind units in place, and just walking away. They are not economical at all. Without massive "Government" subsidies -- free money from the Government -- our tax money -- no one would even touch these.
The installed costs are high -- the maintenance costs to keep them running are high --- there are additional cost for the "back-up" generation that they were supposed to replace, but in reality can't replace.
It may be a Politically Correct policy right now --- but in reality not a good or rational decision.

Wind Turbines $24.99 Wind Turbines - Photographic Print

A Row of Wind Turbines $24.99 Charlie Riedel A Row of Wind Turbines - Photographic Print

Wind Turbines on a Field, Germany $129.99 Panoramic Images Wind Turbines on a Field, Germany - Wall Decal

Wind Turbines Generating Electricity $39.99 Taylor S. Kennedy Wind Turbines Generating Electricity - Photographic Print

Wind Turbines in a Field, Germany $129.99 Panoramic Images Wind Turbines in a Field, Germany - Wall Decal

Wind Turbines, Caithness, Scotland $24.99 Iain Sarjeant Wind Turbines, Caithness, Scotland - Photographic Print

Wind Turbines Along a Ridge $39.99 Paul Nicklen Wind Turbines Along a Ridge - Photographic Print

Wind Turbines, Computer Generation $24.99 Roger Sutcliffe Wind Turbines, Computer Generation - Photographic Print

Wind Turbines at Altamont Pass $39.99 James A. Sugar Wind Turbines at Altamont Pass - Photographic Print

Wind Turbines Generating Electricity, Cornwall $24.99 Bob Gibbons Wind Turbines Generating Electricity, Cornwall - Photographic Print

Wind Turbines after and Ice Storm $39.99 Skip Brown Wind Turbines after and Ice Storm - Photographic Print

Wind Turbines in a Row, California, USA $129.99 Panoramic Images Wind Turbines in a Row, California, USA - Wall Decal

Wind Turbines at San Gorgonio Pass $39.99 Greg Wind Turbines at San Gorgonio Pass - Photographic Print

Rows of Wind Turbines in Cultivated Fields $39.99 Michael Polzia Rows of Wind Turbines in Cultivated Fields - Photographic Print

Wind Turbines at Sunset, Caithness, Scotland $24.99 Iain Sarjeant Wind Turbines at Sunset, Caithness, Scotland - Photographic Print

Wind Turbines for Electric Power, California $34.99 George Grall Wind Turbines for Electric Power, California - Photographic Print

Wind Turbines, Lower Saxony, Germany $19.99 Charles Bowman Wind Turbines, Lower Saxony, Germany - Photographic Print