The great thing about Wind Power and other Renewable Sources of Energy
There is no shortage of reasons to use home wind power:
- Good for the environment
- Fears of running out of fossil fuels
- Independence from your power company
Fossil fuels will one day run out. The great thing about wind power and other renewable sources of energy is, they are always available the next day. You can take advantage of nature’s FREE energy by just putting a wind turbine up and harvesting.
Since wind is caused by the sun, it will never go away and never be used up. If you have a wind turbine at home, you will always be in the driver’s seat.
There doesn’t seem to be a Steve Jobs out there coming up with a brilliant device that will make perpetual energy available for all. That means we need to each take it upon ourselves to address our own personal energy situation.
Wind energy is free – but we do have to take the first step. That means buying a wind turbine or a set of plans to build a turbine from scratch.
Here are some of the things you can use a wind turbine to power:
1. Power your home directly
2. Sell power to the electric grid
3. Charge a battery bank
If you choose to power your home directly from the wind turbine, then you will have to have a power inverting system so that you can mesh seamlessly with the home electrical system. The power generated by the windmill will be direct current (DC) but the power in your home is alternating current (AC).
To make the system work, you use an inverter to convert the DC power to AC power. While you may be able to do this step yourself, it makes the most sense to have an electrician experienced in power inversion equipment to do the installation. That way, you know you won’t run the risk of damaging your home circuitry.
If you are going to sell the power to the grid, the procedure is essentially the same. You need to be able to convert the DC into AC power. The big difference is, you must get your utility involved. Your local utility will have very specific rules about how, who, and where you can connect to their grid. Also, they will tell you their protocol for selling them power back. They will likely pay you according to “real time” prices, meaning, at whatever their incremental price of energy is at the time you export your power to them.
The easiest thing of all is for you to let your home windmill charge a battery bank. If you choose this route you can probably do the set up yourself. The battery bank will be made up of batteries that can withstand deep charge and discharge cycles.
However, the battery bank still needs to be hooked up to the end-point for the power. In other words, it will need to kick in when other sources like your utility supply drops off.
In any case, getting a home wind turbine in place is the right thing to do and now is the right time to do it. With current prices for these systems, a DIY wind turbine is the better way to go, with some of them costing half of what a dealer installed unit would cost. Plus, you can apply for a 30% federal government tax credit this year.
The best thing is, the savings is perpetual and maintenance costs are only a few hundred dollars a year. That means you will be saving money for free for a long time after you are paid back for the initial investment from the money you are NOT having to pay your utility every month.
