Wind Turbines For The Home

Most homeowners are feeling the pinch when they open their electric bill every month. You can include me in this group. Not only the electric bill, but also the gas bill. A double-whammy for me. I use propane, and when my furnace runs a lot, not only do I guzzle the gas, my electric bill goes up too.

I started searching for alternatives. Wind turbines for the home being one of them.

There are two options involved, either buy a commercially made wind turbine, or build one yourself.

If you want to buy a commercial unit, I suggest going to the Wind Turbine Store where you will find several models to choose from. They can get quite pricey though.

On the other hand, there are several companies out there that have readily available plans to build wind turbines for the home. It generally costs around fifty dollars for these plans.

They show you mainly the three most basic parts of a wind turbine and how to make those parts. The blades, the motor assembly and body, and the tower. You also get detailed instructions on the electrical hook-up.

Building wind turbines for the home boils down to this:

• You make three blades out of pvc sewer pipe and shape them just like an airplane propeller. It is actually quite easy and doesn't take long at all.

• You then locate a small DC motor similar to what you find on treadmill's and attach a metal hub to the motor. You then attach the blades to the hub which is attached to the motor.

• The motor/propeller assembly is then attached to a body with a tail on the back end. Imagine building a model airplane without wings.

• Now you need to either mount your wind turbine to your rooftop, or more preferably, to a tower away from buildings so you can get more uninterrupted airflow.

• The last but the most important part...hooking up the wiring from your DC motor on your wind turbine to a set of batteries which in turn, converts to real electricity that you can use for your home. This is probably the biggest challenge for most people, but still can be accomplished rather easily with the proper instructions.

The concept is this. You mount your wind turbine to catch the wind which in turn spins the blades (propellers) which then spins the DC motor. This produces an electrical current which is sent through the wires that you attached. These wires lead down to a series of car batteries that store and hold the energy your wind turbine has just created.

Now we all know that we can run our headlights, radio, and other items in our automobiles just from the battery without the car running. This is basically what wind turbines for the home will accomplish. Once you store enough energy in the batteries, you will have ample electricity available to light your home, watch tv, power your computer, and listen to the radio , etc.

I have looked at a few of the plans that are available on the internet and recommend two companies...Green DIY Energy and Earth4Energy.

They both have quality, detailed instructions and provide videos to help you visualize the construction process better. As a bonus, they both also include plans and videos on how to build solar panels. And if you run into a pinch, you can contact them for one-on-one advice.