Home Wind Turbines Will Help You Save on Electricity Bills

  • Added:
    Nov 15, 2012
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Wind power technology is still gaining popularity especially in Europe, China, and the Western United States. Power companies have made plans to set up wind turbines in high wind areas such as eastern Washington and California. The wind power industry doesn’t stop with power companies though.  Home owners can also benefit from setting up home wind turbines and really cut down on their energy bills.

Quality, sophistication and availability are increasing in all green technologies and especially in wind turbine technology. Manufacturers now offer many different types and designs of home wind turbines. The mechanics of how a wind turbine works are actually pretty simple. A basic wind turbine has blades like a propeller that catch the wind and is rotated by it. The spinning blades then help to rotate a generator or turbine, thus creating an electric current. The current can be captured by batteries for later use.

Benefits of Wind Power

The obvious and main benefit of having a wind turbine in your home is the energy savings. If you happen to live in a high wind area, the savings on electricity from your wind turbine will quickly recoup the cost of the system and eventually provide a surplus of electricity that can either be stored or sold back to the power company. Using less electricity from the grid will greatly decrease your carbon footprint and contribute to decreasing greenhouse gases and undermine our present warming of the earth.

 

Turbine Designs

There are two basic wind turbine designs; horizontal axis and vertical axis design. The most popular design by far is the horizontal axis wind turbine design. This design is the one mostly seen in wind farms. It consists of a pole that sustains a giant bladed propeller or rotor. Industrial size horizontal axis wind turbines are massive structures that function pretty much like all other turbines.

In the retail sector, manufacturers have made small scale wind turbines available for the public. These models are small and are usually used for boating. For a home wind turbine to really be worth buying, it should at least be able to yield 1 to 6 kilowatt hours of energy.

Vertical axis wind turbines are not as popular as their horizontal axis cousins, but they are quickly growing in popularity and design sophistication. One of the benefits of vertical axis wind turbines is that they operate more efficiently in light winds. Also, they more easily adjust to changing wind patterns. There seems to be a great design variety in vertical axis wind turbines.

Usually, pricing for home wind turbines is high. For example, a 1 to 3 kilowatt turbine can often cost between $1 thousand and $17 thousand dollars. Many states in the US offer a tax incentive that can help to offset the cost of the turbine. The return on investment will eventually be made down the road. Many homeowners who are committed to green living will combine wind turbines with solar cells. This double pronged approach, if implemented efficiently, can easily allow the home owner to be able to either live off the grid, or to sell power back to the power company.

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