Residential Wind Power

In today’s tough economic climate the cost of fuel for cars and energy for homes is ever increasing but what can we do about it? In response to this, various groups, economists and environmentalist are now promoting alternative energy. One of these alternative energy sources is wind power, in fact the use of residential wind power has increased dramatically over the last few years.

Residential wind power works in the way of placing a wind generator on top of a high tower so that the wind turbine can collect the kinetic energy and convert this kinetic energy into clean and green electricity. The electricity is then supplied throughout your home like normal electricity that you are use to having in your home. Because a residential wind turbine can be even more effective generating more electricity then is required for an average home utility companies offer a buy back system where they will purchase any unused electricity that has been generated by the residential wind power. The turbines used for residential wind power is small but efficient making them very effective. Using this alternative energy will help significantly when it comes to reducing your electricity bill. Read the rest of this entry »

One of the questions that i get asked most at Residential Wind Power is how to build a wind turbine. If you are handy with the tools and like a weekend project they certainly don’t come much more rewarding or cost effective as to build your own wind turbine.

Why would you want to build your own wind turbine? The question really should be why wouldn’t you want to build your own wind turbine! The real answer is that you can save a heap of money by reducing your utility bill, reduce your carbon footprint and help out the environment. On top of this is the satisfaction of building something of real value to you and your family for a measly $100.
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The ability to produce your own electricity through renewable resources is a wonderful feeling.  Not only are you helping out the environment, you are also helping out your bank balance by reducing your need to buy electricity from the utility company.

Having an environmental conscious is all well and good but before you go and install your brand new wind turbine or solar panel you should look at your current energy use and see where you can reduce your bill.  The following list outlines different methods you could save electricity and save money through lighting.

1) Turn off the light when you leave a room

This may sound ridiculously simple but it amazes me how many people leave ten or fifteen lights on in different areas of their house when they only need to use one or two.  Why does you bedroom light need to be left on when you are on the couch watching television? By using two 60w lights instead of ten you save 480w each hour or over 11.5Kw every day.
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Although this is not exactly a residential wind turbine it certainly works on the same principal as a vertical axis wind turbine or a spiral wind mill.  The turbine in question doesn’t convert wind into eco friendly electricity but instead uses the ebb and flow of ocean waves to generate 1.2 megawatts of clean hydropower.

The £10million SeaGen turbine based in Northern Ireland’s Strangford Lough generated enough green energy during testing to supply power to over 150 homes. Full-blown production of the first commercial wave powered generator in Ireland is expected later in the year where it will power over 1000 homes.

Working like an underwater windmill, the turbine’s two rotors are propelled by some of the world’s fastest tidal flows that stream in and out of the Lough at speeds of up to 8 knots.

It is moored to the sea floor 400 metres from the shore and will work for about 20 hours each day. No energy is generated during tide changes as tidal speed drops to below 2 knots.
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Former US vice president Al Gore has challenged the American public to produce all of its electricity from renewable sources within ten years.

In a speech in Washington DC, the Nobel Laureate said greater use of renewable and carbon-free sources would help to solve the “present danger” of the problems of energy supply, climate change and economic downturn in the US.

He warned that the climate crisis is getting “a lot worse much more quickly than predicted”; the economy is in “terrible shape”; and fuel prices are increasingly “dramatically”.

“When we look at all three of these seemingly intractable challenges at the same time, we can see the common thread running through them, deeply ironic in its simplicity: our dangerous over-reliance on carbon-based fuels is at the core of all three of these challenges - the economic, environmental and national security crises,” Mr Gore said.
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Who says you can’t have renewable energy with residential wind power and also have style at the same time?  Perhaps the designer of this unique vertical axis wind turbine was taking note of Dan Parker’s brilliant Spiral Wind Turbine!

Engadget and Inhabitat are both running articles this morning of a unique vertical axis wind turbine named ‘Democratic Ecology’.  The small wind turbine that has been designed by prolific product design star Philippe Starck was created with home wind power in mind.  Starck’s wind generator was created so ‘enable every man, woman and child on Earth to generate their own power in designer style’.  Hey, who can blame him.  A lot of residential wind turbines aren’t exactly built with aesthetics in mind.

The residential windmill can generate 20-60% of the energy needed to power a home, at a price point of around 400 Euros ($633). Not realistically within everyone’s budget, but by combining creativity and elegance with ecology Starck will hopefully encourage more people to take greener steps. And for those who don’t want their conservation pieces to be conversation pieces, a subtler version has been proposed.

The transparent small wind turbine will be available to all in September 2008 and, in typical Starck style, if everyone’s going to have one he’s going to make sure they all look great.

We have covered some unique wind turbines recently and i am personally a big fan of new ideas when it comes to residential wind power.  Some inventions are so unique you have to wonder how the designers ever came up with the idea while others are simply a fresh take on existing ideas.  This horizontal axis wind turbine falls somewhere in the middle.

From the land of the long white cloud (New Zealand) comes this single blade wind turbine that the inventors are pitching at the home wind power market.  The Power House Wind Turbine which is due to be released into the market in late 2009 features a blade that can change position to protect itself from strong and destructive winds.

Developed by two former Fisher & Paykel engineers the variable speed wind turbine is designed to power a single house, a market that has a massive world wide potential.

For more information on the single blade residential wind turbine check out the video below.

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This article focuses on planning and installing a residential wind power generation system, not as much on how a wind energy system works.

Wind power generation, an alternative and renewable energy source, has seen a dramatic increase in popularity over the last few years. Technological advances make it more and more feasible to install wind power generators for individual homes. The newer systems are more efficient and quieter then their older equivalent wind generators.

Not every geographical location however, is suited for installing a wind power generator. A consistent wind, with average speeds of approximately 11 miles per hour is required to make a wind energy system feasible. Lower wind speeds can be suitable for battery charging and water pumping in your remote weekend cottage.

Wind availability maps are published by the US National Renewable Energy Lab. You can get a general idea from these maps if you are living in a state and county with sufficiently high winds.
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Want to ditch your reliance on the electricity grid? Perhaps you still want to be attached to the grid and have the utilities pay you for your clean, green excess wind power. The guys at Quietrevolution have a neat looking vertical axis wind turbine that they clain can produce up to 10,000 kWh of wind power right in your own backyard.

Beneath the skin is what Quietrevolution calls the world’s most efficient turbine for capturing air currents near buildings and other structures, with carbon-fiber blades shaped to grab gusty city winds without making much noise.  But make sure your credit card is ready for a beating because at $48,000 the QR5 costs twice as much as a traditional horizontal axis wind turbines unit that generates the same output.
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While doing some filing i cam across a post i had written about home wind power but had never got around to posting on the site.  There is some basic but interesting information on residential wind power systems - enjoy!

Wind energy is a plentiful, renewable and clean source of power that can be used in a large range of applications from wind farms through to home wind power. In residential applications a wind turbine, which is installed on top of a tall tower, collects kinetic energy from the wind and converts it to electricity that is compatible with a home’s electrical system.

As wind energy is governed by nature as wind speeds increase, turbine output increases and the amount of power purchased from the utility is proportionately decreased. When the turbine produces more power than the house needs, the extra electricity is sold to the utility. All of this is done automatically. There are no batteries in a modern residential wind system.

Small wind generation systems with capacities of 100 kW or less are usually used to power farms, homes, and small businesses. Remote communities that would otherwise rely on diesel generators may use wind turbines to replace diesel fuel consumption. Home owners purchase residential wind generators to reduce or eliminate their electricity bills, or simply to generate their own clean power.
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