Harness the Wind
Sep 24th, 2012 | By Andrew | Category: Energy, Wind | Print This Article
If you are like most people, you take it for granted that when you flip the light switch in your bedroom, you will have lights. However, there could very well come a day when electricity is not available. The power grids across the country are becoming overloaded. Blackouts are common in many cities, and people have to learn to cope without power for many hours, sometimes even days.
You can take steps to be prepared in the event that the power grid goes offline. In addition to being prepared for having no electricity, you can also save money with an alternate source of power that is not on the grid. Wind power has been in use for hundreds of years— long before wind turbines even became an option. Man has harnessed the wind to power sailboats and to help them become airborne. Today, the fear of depleting energy resources has made wind an important option for powering homes and even entire towns.
Wind Power
Wind can create a large amount of power. Turbines can be built to harness the wind’s power and generate enough electricity to power a house, or it can be captured and stored in batteries as a backup power source. You can stay on the power grid and supplement your electricity usage with wind power, or you can go off the grid completely. All you need to create energy is high winds and a wind turbine.
The turning blades cause the shaft to turn, which in turn creates electricity that is sent to a battery source for storage. This electricity or energy must be converted using an inverter that makes it usable for households. The wind turbines capacity for creating electricity is directly related to the how tall the wind turbine is and how big the blades are on the turbine.
Most homeowners who add a wind turbine for power stay on the grid, at least to some degree. This is simply due to not being able to completely forecast how much wind the area you live in will have in any given time. When the wind isn’t blowing, you aren’t storing power. Most homes use electricity as a backup in case the wind does become still. On the other hand, if there is an excess amount of power created, the homeowner can opt to sell it to the local power company.
Another option is for the homeowner to go completely off the local power grid. The only way a homeowner can go off the power grid completely is to store power in batteries. This backup source is necessary should the wind should become still and not produce enough power for the home. A home completely off the grid could experience severe outages if the wind is slowed for any length of time.
Installing a wind power system in your home can bring substantial savings to your power bill. Savings between 10 and 90 percent are not uncommon (based on how much wind power you are going to use versus how much electricity you are going to rely on).
The percentage amount is dependent upon the size of the wind energy turbine you install, how much wind you receive, and how fast that wind is.
A small wind turbine (for example, a one-kilowatt turbine) will produce enough energy to reduce the power bill by approximately 10 to 20 percent. As you increase the kilowatts that your produce, which also means increasing the size of the wind turbine, you can greatly increase the savings. A three-kilowatt turbine will save you 30 to 60 percent. Additionally, the higher the electricity bill is, the more savings will be seen with a wind turbine.
Although there are costs involved in setting up large turbines for residential home use, there are also government incentives available. Homeowners should check with local and state governments before investing in a wind turbine to determine what offers they have.
Even a small wind-powered generator can save household money. A wind-powered generator could be used as a backup power source or to power outdoor work equipment. Any power taken while off the grid is a savings.
Another benefit for residential wind turbines is that they do not contribute to global warming, noise pollution, acid rain, or air pollution. This has been a concern for many years for nearly all of the other energy options available to homeowners.
Homeowners should be aware of the components of the wind power system and ensure they have a suitable location. The wind power system consists of the rotary (blades), the enclosure box, the tower, and the electrical components.
The tower should be situated so that it is above the tree line for optimal wind access. Other than the height of the tower, the wind power system will not be in the way of anything—you can even plant foliage right up to the base of the system.
Harness the power of the sun for your energy needs…
Wind-Power Farms
One wind-powered turbine is not enough to power and entire city; however, wind-powered farms can create enough power to light up a city. These farms are being considered by many municipalities to provide a cheaper from of energy.
A wind farm is usually set up where there is a constant source of wind. Most of these farms have average wind speeds of 14 mph. One of the nice things about wind is that it is an inflation-free form of energy. Once the farms are built, there are no further costs involved.
These utility-sized wind turbines send their energy to nearby generator stations, where the power will be distributed throughout the area. This power created by these wind farms is a constantly renewable source of energy, particularly in windy areas.
Wind energy benefits everyone, from the person who installs it to the people who live with it and the people who do not. In addition to the benefits the household receives from using wind energy, the planet as a whole benefits from using a renewable energy source.
Renewable energy is not for the future; it is for now. Wind turbines are already producing power for entire towns and many homes. Wind power, along with solar power, is one of the most abundant free options for producing energy.
If you haven’t considered an alternate power source for your home, you should take the time to research wind and solar power. You can get a do-it-yourself kit and start saving money on power today. You will be off the grid and not dependent on the electric companies.
©2013 Off The Grid News
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We live in SW Missouri which has no incentives for alternative power, and when I looked Into the costs for a turbine it was going to cost us well over 5K to get one put up. I agree the electricity savings could be huge, but as for saving money well it would take a significant number of years to offset a 5K investment. You might consider including some reality with you’re posts.
Another problem with SW Missouri is that it is in a very low windspeed zone. There are maps available online that show average wind speeds for various areas across the US. Unfortunately for those of us in SW Missouri, we’re in a very low speed zone. Darn near anywhere in Kansas would be a better location. That’s why they say “Kansas blows”.
Actually, a more pleasant comment about the wind in Kansas: The word Kansas is was a local Native American word for wind.
My problem with the huge wind farms is actually different than most. Why are we spending lots of money to create a new mega-industry where we are forced to tie into the “grid” and pay monthly for the privilege. The better idea for us as individuals would be for each and every home to have it’s own small wind generator and backup solar generator. I find it interesting that an idea that could have made us all fairly energy independent was perverted to make us all dependent on a different energy company. Something just not right about that.
The wind farms we have in Wisconsin are horrendous. Yes, they do produce electricity. No, they do not pay for themselves. Added to the negative column, the health effects, property value decreases, and the general artificial-ness of the placements.
The costs do not outweigh the benefits. The wind turbines are only running/operational about 25% of the time here, due to wind speeds being too high (I thought we were supposed to be able to harness that power), equipment malfunction, and lack of upkeep.
The health effects are unbelievable. My entire family is affected by the cell phone towers–yes, I know there are detractors out there who say it’s all in our heads–no. When I can “feel” a cell tower as we’re driving from a distance of 1/2 mile, and my family complains of nausea, stomach ache, head ache, dizziness, blinding pain behind our eyes and severe tension in the shoulder areas–all without seeing where the tower is, I know something is wrong. The wind turbine towers act in the same way. The effects are magnified due to the shadow effects, the noise of the motor and the height of the towers. I can’t drive near the wind farms here. Period. The individual wind turbines aren’t as bad, but still have an effect on people.
The property values of the homes near the wind farms has plummeted. People can’t sell their homes (because they have to get out due to the health effects) and some have outright abandoned their new homes because of this. The local officials continue to push for the wind farms, not seeing that they’re losing their tax base due to their actions.
The look of the wind farms is not in harmony with the area. It has decreased the tourist travel through these areas, and, in turn, through the little burgs that support the townships and villages.
All around, not a good choice. We need to make sure that what we’re doing doesn’t have long-term consequences.
Hello. Orgonite will minimize/?egate the electrical effects of the cell towers, and windmills. Orgonite also fights chemtrails! Orgonecrystals(.)com ctbusters(.)com and orgoniseafrica(.)com are a few places to get good orgonite. Spread the word!
Uh, negate. Not ?egate. Thanks. Orgonite even helps plants grow. Its awesome stuff.
Sauer Energy @ SauerEnergy.com has a residential sized horizontal axis Turbine that will work efficiently at 3 to 5 MPH and they hope to sell it as a unit (turbine, generator, invertor…etc) package through big-box stores with distribution referrals for set up and support. Check out their web site, this is an amazing product called the WindCharger.
I looked into Sauer and like the product. It will kick in at low wind speeds but the power output is not efficient until about 15 MPH (?). At around $7000 the payoff at my location is well over 7 years. Despite this negativism, I will still consider a hybrid wind + solar configuration.
NO Horizontal axis wind turbines are efficient. period ! If they were, you would see them in place of the vertical axis turbines used everywhere. The large commercial turbines are only 56.3% efficient. I know because I am a service tech for one of the largest wind turbine manufacturers in the world.
gonna have to look into this organite, never heard of it. We have several large windmills set up to power a mall and surrounding homes and Massachusetts Maritime Academy. Very slight noise and no adverse health effects reported among the people and cadets.
Does anyone do the math on return on investment any more? Pure and simple, it does not pencil out when you factor in the life of the equipment and who is going to take it down when it stops working?
I agree that if commercial power is available and dependable at your location the cost / benefit is not attractive. If I was in the boonies and had to pay for lines to be run, I would certainly look at a large wind / solar system. For potential ‘power out’ situations I intend to look at a small wind/solar system, not necessarily enough to run my AC but for some basic survival juice.
Here is another interesting tid bit of info for you- I have been working in the Electrical bussiness my whole adult life. I am 50 now. I worked in several coal fired power houses, and now am a service tech at a wind farm. The farm I work at has 68 turbines at just over 2 mega watts each. Just to clean the air from one coal fired plant requires MORE electricity that this whole farm creats per mega watt hour. Just sayin.
The amount of negativity regarding this post is surprising to me. I installed a 1kw wind turbine a year ago and love it! Aside from the benifits in energy savings, the peace of mind knowing I have back up power in the event of a grid down scenario is priceless! Appearance ? I live in a very rural neighborhood and have 5 neighbors, my windgen has become a neighborhood icon , and NO it does not create a disturbing noise. In anything less than 25mph wind it is nearly silent. Finally to the woman who is finding the windgen interferes with her health I recommend a tinfoil hat shaped with a point at the apex for maximum em attenuation . Do I really dare explain how absurd that is? Suffice it to say my vocation allows me detailed knowledge of the technologies involved here and the windgens are not making you ill.
I work in wind as a service tech. I’m in these things EVERY DAY ! They truly are pieces of electronic wonderment. They have several processors in them to control the pitch of the blades, to “shape” the power before it’s put into the grid, and to manage the whole thing. They have about 24 IP addresses per turbine. You can start, stop and change opperating parameters from ANY computer. They cost abot $3-mil each- turn key. They are 100 meters tall. that’s 328 feet to the center of the rotor. the top piece, or “nacelle” as it’s called weighs 131 TONS ! There is over 400 yards of concrete in each base. They produce( well, mine do) just over 2 megs-watts. 575 volts AC, 3-ph wye, at around 2500 amps, which is sent to a transformer outside the tower, and is stepped up to 34, 500 volts AC Before it as stepped up again to be connected to the main grid. All the turbines are linked together by two fiber optic cables. All verticle axis wind turbines are around 56.3% efficient. I have worked at farms in Mich, Wash state, Calif, and my home state in PA. I have NEVER seen a dead bird.! EVER! Or a dead bat. These critters are typically smarter than we give them credit. They typically stay away from the moving blades. I have however seen MANY dead sheep out in Rio Vista California. But i’m sure it’s not wind power related though! LOL… By the way, how fast do you think those blades turn? Ours turn a MAXIMUM of 15-20 revolutions per minute. That’s all. There is a gear box inside that increases the rpm’s before the generator. So, for every one rpm of the rotor you get almost 100 to the generator. If the blades turned any faster, they would literally “fly” apart. They weigh 19,000 pounds each ! These things DO make noise. Actually they’re pretty loud “sometimes”. They do take away from property value depending on whether or not YOU own the property they’re on in which case you’ll profit about $14k per year per turbine. My farm is in the middle of “coal country” They hate us ! They’re too stupid to realize coal isn’t going anywhere ! It can’t. Wind for home power? I wish I could have a small one, but I don’t have enough property. These “toy” systems that produce 12, 24, or 48 volts are science projects. They just keep the Non- electrical people alive. LOL. You MUST make at least the same voltage your using or preferably higher. Most “serious” systems run between 400 and 600 volt DC, before it inverted to 120-240 AC. Just syain. I know the expense is enormous, especially if you can’t do the work”safely” yourself. Well, there’s some wind power info for ya. Have a nice day !