Home wind generation involves installing wind turbine capacity at your home
. This deputizing of the masses to make their own electricity is a vital step in our quest to one day eliminate all the wires hanging over our heads that bring us power made by fossil fuel plants.
How do you best take advantage of home wind generation?
There are 3 things you need to do:
1. Size up your potential to create energy from the wind around your houseLook into local rules that may limit how you employ a wind turbine
2. Consider what type of turbine you would like The biggest mistake most people make is not spending adequate time researching their local wind before they buy. It is not enough to look into how the wind blows in general. It is fine to study that first but you have to check out the wind that blows on your property at the very outset.
3. Also, there are many communities that haven't warmed up to wind power yet. They either limit via permit the type of wind turbine you can put up or they ban them altogether. Your local municipal government will be able to tell you pretty quickly what restrictions are out there and how much a permit to put a windmill up will cost.
Finally, consider the type of wind turbines are out there for home use. Vertical-axis and horizontal-axis are the 2 main types. Verticals fit nicely with a roof environment. Horizontals are a bit more versatile and efficient.
If it looks like the best place for you to mount will be on your roof, then verticals offer some very aesthetically pleasing alternatives. They don't take up a lot of space and are actually quite soothing to watch them create energy.
Horizontals are extremely efficient but their long moment arm means they may put more stress on your roof. The advantage of horizontals though is they will simply put out a lot more energy. The problem is the heartburn that a lot of people have about wind turbines in general relate to the public's perception of horizontal windmills.
In summary, home wind generation is one of the best ways out there to start cutting your home power cost and start moving off the power grid. As prices come down, they will be affordable by more people and we will start seeing small wind turbines in a lot more places.