Congratulations on being proactive about rising energy costs and potential electricity shortages by doing research on whether or not residential wind power is right for your needs. There are pros and cons to generating your own wind power for your home.
Pros to Wind Electricity for Your Home
Residential wind turbines can be really cheap to make. Basically, it’s just the part we all think of when we hear the word “windmill”–blades that spin in the wind. You can purchase kits or even make your own windmill blades, and it’s all a lot easier than you might think. Wind power is clean, renewable, and available wherever it’s windy. The wind power you generate can be brought straight into the electricity you’re already using. As long as your windmill is turning, you’ll be able to use that power for your home.
Cons to Residential Wind Power
There’s not a lot of information yet on generating your own wind power. Most of the information is geared towards investors and businesses and companies interested in launching “wind farms” for massive power generation. Be prepared for some funny looks. Most of your friends and neighbors will probably look at you strangely if you announce that you’re planning to make your own electricity using wind turbines. Sure, when you show them your electricity bill they’ll change their tune, but in the beginning you need to be prepared for people to be less than encouraging. In most areas, you probably won’t be able to generate all the electricity you need exclusively using wind power–that’s because to generate the most energy, you need strong winds which usually requires building a very, very tall tower. It’s simply not practical for most residential use, so you’ll likely generate only a portion of the electricity you use with homemade wind power. That’s okay, though, because you can always make additional wind turbines, and realistically, even reducing your electricity bill by 20% will mean the wind generator will pay for itself very quickly. You may have a bit of a fight with your Home Owner’s Association depending on where you live. There may be community concerns about noise levels, height of the tower, and general effects on the community. These concerns are usually easily responded to, but you’ll need to be aware of them and educated about answering them.
The reason that I’m so inspired by generating my own wind electricity right now is that it can easily supplement a solar system making it that much more likely that my home will generate more electricity than it uses, and that might be a bonus for you as well. After all, who wouldn’t want to get a check *from* the electricity company every month?!
Wind power for residential use has come a long way since the 70s, and there are more resources than ever to help you learn how to do this. It’s a smart, responsible thing to research because we each need to do our part to conserve electricity and cut our reliance on non-renewable sources of electricity. There’s never been a better time to start your research into whether or not wind electricity might be right for your home.
Steve is going to make all of his own electricity using solar and wind power within the next few years. He’s doing this because retirement is just around the corner for he and his wife and they want to cut expenses in as many ways as possible so that they’ll be able to genuinely enjoy retirement and keep their lives simple. He’s currently working on building a residential wind electricity system for his home and you can follow along on his blog at http://www.wind-power-home-guide.com.
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