Wind Powered Generators

Twenty years ago wind power generators for a homes weren’t nearly as popular or prevalent as they are today.  For the most part, solar power systems have dominated the alternative energy market when it comes to home-based systems, but wind power is coming along in popularity these days.  It may be because the overall mindset of people these days are leaning towards the utilization of renewable resources for their everyday needs and wind power is just so practical.  In any case, wind power generators are a simple step towards a “sustainable” lifestyle and can compliment a solar energy system by providing energy output even at night!

If a homeowner decides to look into options to install a wind power generator on their property they will find several options. They can hire the services of a company that specializes in home wind power and  have them come and install a customized system, there’s the option of pre-fabricated kits which need to be assembled and installed, or they can pursue the do it yourself route and build their own system.  All of these are great options and each have their own application, but I personally was intrigued by the do it yourself option.

Since I’m not in my “final” home quite yet, I didn’t want to pursue the professional install route and invest, although I’m sure worth every penny, tens of thousands of dollars for a unit.  The prefabricated kits were also out of the question because for one, they run anywhere from $1500-3000 and the idea of a “plug and play” model didn’t seem very exciting.

Once I started researching the do it yourself option, I quickly found there are several guides out there that teach you some basic designs of homemade wind turbine generators and they walk you step by step through the process of building one. At the time,  I was also looking into do it yourself solar power options and I was surprised that most of the wind power generator guides I looked at also included instructions on building your own solar panel systems; a big plus for me.

As I furthered my research into home wind/solar power market I found that outside of the wind power generator itself, there are some auxiliary components that make up a complete system; namely deep cycle batteries and electric inverters.  The batteries store the energy the wind generator creates and the electric inverters convert the stored electricity in the batteries from DC (direct current) power to useable AC (alternating current) power for your home.  Both of these units are going to vary in size and rating and these components are generally something purchased rather than built by you.  The guides I purchased and reviewed talked about the best way to go about obtaining these components for a minimal cost.

If you’re like me and intrigued by the idea of living “grid free,” meaning not paying any electric company for the power I use, you’ll have to start this journey off by becoming more energy conscious.  By becoming more energy conscious, you will by default be using less energy, and your energy consumption will become more consistent.  This is vital when you supply your own electricity because it not only means you can get away with a smaller system, but it also means you will have less power issues.

As I mentioned earlier in this article, I researched the do it yourself market fairly extensively and I also ended up purchasing multiple products in the off grid living market.  For review of my favorite product when it comes to home wind/solar power instructional guides, take a look at: