| Reading the headline of this revealing article, you | | | | Average price for electricity in the US in 2009: |
| might ask yourself right now, how much you | | | | 11,76 cents/kWh |
| could really save with wind power. | | | | Average energy consumption of American |
| Let's have a look at the basics first. | | | | households: 936 kWh per month |
| If you have already read a bit about wind energy, | | | | (source: U.S. Energy Information Administration) |
| you might know, that home made wind turbines | | | | This means the average American household |
| are much more effective then DIY solar panels | | | | pays around $110 each month for the electric bill. |
| for the same construction price, when it comes | | | | Now, following professional guidebooks, you can |
| to saving electric bill costs. Of course this is only | | | | easily build a 1000W wind turbine in one day or a |
| true if you live in an area with high average wind | | | | weekend. The material for this project should |
| speeds. Check the links at the bottom of this | | | | cost you less than $100. |
| article for more information about wind maps. | | | | But how much can that 1000W home wind |
| The area where you should install your wind | | | | generator save you? Lets break it down: |
| turbine should be wide open and without any | | | | With average wind speeds of 12 mph our home |
| buildings or other obstacles in front of it. An ideal | | | | made 1000W wind turbine should be able to |
| place would be a farm or at a coastline for | | | | produce around 200 kwh per month. At the |
| example. The higher you can install your home | | | | above mentioned price of 11,76 cents/kWh this |
| wind turbine, the better, as wind speeds increase | | | | would mean a theoretical saving of $23.52 per |
| with height. | | | | month or $282.24 a year. That means your $100 |
| Cut-in Speed | | | | turbine could pay itself in less than half a year. |
| The minimum wind speed to make the wind | | | | This is the beauty of a DIY wind generator |
| turbine rotate is called "cut-in speed". For small | | | | compared to a commercial one, that could cost |
| residential wind turbines the cut-in speed is usually | | | | you more than $4000 and would take many |
| around 7-9 miles per hour. | | | | years to pay off. |
| Did you know that doubling the wind speed | | | | Now imagine you build two wind turbines and |
| increases the available wind power by the factor | | | | combine them with DIY solar panels. Your |
| of 8? That means small differences in wind speed | | | | electricity costs will drop significantly. And you are |
| make big differences in the amount of electricity | | | | doing your part to reduce toxic gas emissions and |
| that can be produced. Wind with a speed of 6 | | | | to keep our environment clean. Its a win win |
| mph for example contains less then 1/8 of the | | | | situation. |
| energy of 12 mph winds. | | | | Let me tell you a "secret": If you have access to |
| Well, lets have a look at a theoretical example. | | | | scrap yards, you could build a home wind |
| Why theoretical? Because wind conditions are | | | | generator almost for free. So what are you |
| different in every region and area. For this | | | | waiting for? Do you think it is too difficult to build |
| calculation we need to have a look at the | | | | a wind generator yourself? Not at all! It is actually |
| following statistics: | | | | quite easy and even fun. |