subject: Wind Electricity Turbines For Homes [print this page] If you are in the market for wind power turbines for homes, there are several steps you must take before you begin to spec-out actual windmills to purchase. It is easy with projects like these to put the cart before the horse.
Wind power is becoming very popular in the U.S. now - mainly due to the steady rise of fuel costs and the impact that has on our home power bills.
In any case, these are the things you must do before spending much time on researching an actual device to purchase:
* Map the wind on your Property. This is a very important step. If you don't understand how the wind flows on your property, there's no way to make an intelligent choice of where to install your wind device. This just no way you can do this intuitively. You have got to take the time and collect some data at the points at which you think you would like to install the wind turbine.
You can do that with an anemometer. It's very easy to let it sit and collect data over the course of a week or a few weeks. You can then download that information to your PC and understand wind patterns and average wind speeds. A wind speed of over 9 mph makes this project a no-brainer. However, there are new wind turbines coming on the market now that will begin turning and actually making power at less than 1 mph.
* Find out about permitting. Understanding your government's attitude toward wind turbine installation locally is a very important part of doing your homework. You simply have got take the time to call or visit your city or county government to find out what permitting requirements are. They usually won't be something you can't live with. But, you need to comply or else you may have to take your turbine down for a reason you could've avoided.
* Decide what appliance you plan on powering with the electricity you make. Deciding what you're going to do with the power you make is of course also very critical. The simplest thing is to charge a set of batteries, but you can go so far as to try to power your entire house. Some people would even get very aggressive export their excess to the electricity grid and get paid for what they export.
In conclusion, wind power turbines for homes can be the solution for your personal energy crisis, but you have to make sure you are buying the right wind turbine to fit the job you have assigned to it.
