Sunday, October 4, 2009

Cheap Wind Power Generators To Power Your Whole Home

By David Sullivan

Are you looking to get off the grid and stop depending on your power company for electricity? There is another way. The cheapest way right now is wind energy, and the best way to get it into your house is to do it yourself! You can save thousands of dollars.

You can build your own wind power generator for your home. The ideal situation is an area that is 20ft higher than the nearest obstacle or building, and about 250-400 feet away. The average wind speed in North America is about 9-10m/s, which is great for using wind power.

Wind power generators an excellent alternative energy source. Because they can generate 1000 watts of power versus 100 watt for the average solar panel, they are a higher output system and cost less per Watt.

The spinning energy in the blades is converted to electricity by a DC motor. It uses a powerful magnet to induce charge in wire. You can buy one for $50-$200 or so, depending on the size of your turbine.

Another component of a wind power generator is the tower. You can either buy one or make one from scratch or recycle a tower. Old TV towers work great for this. You will also need a manual to work from to give you engineering plans to build the turbine correctly.

Many people have bought guides and made their own 500 watt turbines from scratch using PVC piping, a DC motor, TV tower recycled and a grid connector unit. This can be done in less than a week and for less than $300. On the other hand the same turbine might cost $1500 or $2500 commercially.

The concept of wind power has been around for the long time but hasn't much been implemented. It is fairly easy to build one yourself, and you'll find that they work fantastically for your own home.

If you have a bit of land or a rooftop to place it on, some PVC, a DC motor and something to make a tower out of, you can put together a wind power generator with basic tools quite easily.

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