Pros and Cons of Residential Wind Turbines

Why consider residential wind turbines? The answer to that question is not as easy as many in the press would have us believe.

Windmills for the home are not an entirely new thing, of course. They have been around on farms since before the Revolution, doing things like grinding grain and pumping water.
The idea of creating electricity from the wind however has only become popular lately - since long lines at the gas pumps forced us to think seriously about alternate sources of energy. First, the pros of owning a residential wind turbine:

1. Save money on your electricity bills each month - Becoming less dependent on your local utility for supplying power to your home will reduce the amount you pay for the power they supply each month.

2. Help the environment - Less carbon produced by fossil fuel power plants will decrease the negative impacts of climate change on the planet.

3. Perpetual power - Wind is caused by uneven heating of the ground during the day and therefore isn't going away. Fossil fuels, of course, are being burned up very quickly and may be gone in our lifetimes, if not, certainly during the lives of our children.

Now, the cons:

1. NIMBY - Not In My Back Yard. These devices can be seen as attractive or an eyesore. Many neighborhood associations won't allow them because it is felt they make the property look "rural" and diminish property values.

2. Noise - Wind turbines can be very loud. 30 Decibels is not uncommon when the turbines are operating in maximum wind. That can be very loud - as loud as a large commercial air conditioner. I would say, that is the "sound of saving money", but your neighbors might think otherwise.

3. Bird and bat problems - Since wind turbines aren't natural to their environment, birds and bats have been known to be killed by colliding with the blades. This is not a good thing of course, but when you consider the ramifications of pollution from coal burning power plants have on the birds' and bats' world, then the negative impact of the windmills on the bird and bat population isn't really that bad, relatively speaking.

In the final analysis, we need to harness nature's power with residential wind turbines, solar power, and other secondary renewable sources of power to start to wean ourselves off of fossil fuels. If we are going to have a fighting chance of keeping our electricity-driven lifestyles intact, we really have no choice.


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Roger G. Brown has saved countless companies money on their power bills. If you want to learn more about how to slash your utility bill Now, check out Roger's tips AND learn how you can get a Tax Credit .