3 Step ToDo List For Wind Turbine For The House

Finding out how to make electricity at home is on everyone's mind nowadays. One thing that can work for almost everyone is a Wind Turbine for the House plan.

The most important thing is not to get ahead of yourself and order a wind turbine before you research these key questions:

1. Electricity Production Expectations - Clearly understand how much energy you should expect the wind turbine to produce. You need to look into what things you can do with the power so you can know how much electricity you need to make.

2. Real Estate Limitations - There are a number of places on most peoples' properties that will allow provide at least some power from the wind. Determine the options you have and that will drive you to the type of wind turbine that is best suited for the wind resources you have available.

3. Choose Type and Size of Wind Turbine - There are 2 basic types - Horizontal-Axis and Vertical-Axis wind turbines (HAWT and VAWT). Each is better than the other in some locations.

First let's talk about getting clear about what your electricity production expectations...

There are a number of things a home windmill can supply you power for:

1. Supply electricity for a standalone device, like a pump

2. Battery charging

3. Supplying the electricity for your entire house

4. Export power to the electricity grid

To get a feel for how much energy your standalone device will require, the owner's manual or the Internet is your resource. Take the power rating for the pump or piece of equipment and multiply it by the approximate number of hours you use it in a month. That will be the monthly kilowatt-hours you will use.

If you are going to use the wind system to charge batteries to use in the event of a power failure, you need to perform the same analysis on the essential equipment in your house you would like to keep running no matter what. Usually, people consider refrigeration and air conditioning the essentials.

To understand your energy needs for your whole house, you need to find out from your electric utility how much energy you use in a given month. You can certainly add up your bills for the year and divide by 12, but it's much easier to just call up your utility and ask them to give you the average.

Next, you need to clarify the limitations of the real estate you have at your disposal…

That is, what areas on your property have the strongest wind? How high up is that wind blowing most consistently? Answering these questions is very important if your roof is a realistic option.

A great way to get a handle on those questions is to put up an anemometer in those places and measure the wind. An anemometer is a small device that you can mount most where a wind turbine might go and take data to make a "wind map".

While you can most always install a windmill on your roof, it is definitely not the ideal place for wind power.

In any case, if the roof turns out to be the easiest place to put one up, you can optimize the wind power you harvest by taking advantage of "Roof Effect". Roof Effect will direct you to mount the windmill near the apex of the ridge line.

The best place of all is usually at least 30 feet above the height of the highest obstacle but that requires a tower to be installed, which can be expensive.

Now, you have enough data to look seriously for the specific turbine you need…

You will likely need a 1-3 kW model. Windspot, Windtura, and Sunforce make excellent products that are relatively inexpensive. Horizontals tend to be much more efficient but verticals work better on roofs.

Summarizing, there is a lot you need to do long before considering specific wind turbines with a wind turbine for the house project. Make sure you curb your enthusiasm until you can answer the key questions we discussed in this article and you will be able to then buy your new windmill with confidence.


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Roger G. Brown has been an energy engineer for 20 years.
If you want to learn more about a wind turbine for house project Now,
check out Roger's advice on how to save money AND maybe even get a Wind Tax Credit!