Wednesday, September 30, 2009

Building Wind Power Generators For Your Home

By David Sullivan

Traditional energy sources are on their way out. Fossil fuel costs are shooting up because we are running low on them, so we need to prepare for the future. We need to change the way we think about how we get our energy and how much we are using to change our lifestyles into sustainable lifestyles.

And many have already begun doing so. New engineering ideas are allowing us to produce sustainable energy at less and less cost.

Using the right set of plans even homeowners who don't know anything about construction or electricity can build their own alternative energy sources right in their backyards, such as wind power generators.



Homebuilt wind turbines can make as much power to reduce the average household's power bill by 60-70%. The right advice can show you how many people make their wind power generators for as little as $200 US.

They can be built with basic tools and parts from a local hardware store. You can estimate the amount of power a generator creates using the following formula:

Power(Watts) = (Wind Speed)^3 * (Blade Diameter)^2 * 0.00478

The speed of the wind makes the most difference because its value is cubed, then the blade diameter because its value is squared. Example calculation using a decent wind speed of 10mph and an 8 ft blade diameter:

W = (10*10*10) * (8*8) * 0.00478 = 305 watts/hour - x 24 hours and you can calculate 7.3 kWh generated per day by a wind power generator.

If you have an average home, you probably use about 12-20 kWh of power every day. Even if you don't have great wind speed in your area, an initial investment of about $200 to build a wind turbine is small compared to the savings you will get in free electricity for your house. Wind power generators are very good investments, indeed.

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