How to Plan for a Residential Wind Turbine

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By mlt34
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My own residential wind turbine

If you are looking for a way to cut down on your monthly electrical bill and help your community to go green at the same time, you should consider installing a residential wind turbine. There are lots of good places to get wind turbines from, some of which I'll list in the resources at the bottom of this article. First though, you need to plan ahead and make sure a residential wind turbine is right for you.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

Step 1

First of all, you'll need to scout a location. The number one rule of thumb for a residential wind turbine is clear open room. You'll want a clear area away from close trees, roofs, chimneys, etc. A back yard is a good place.
Step 2

Second of all, you'll want to make sure you have some vertical space. This is usually not a problem, but just make sure there aren't any power lines or anything above where you'll install the residential wind turbine. The higher you mount the turbine, the more wind it will get, so you'll want room to put it as high as possible.
Step 3

Next, plan how you want to use your power. You'll have two main options: battery bank of direct line. With a battery bank, your power will be stored in batteries. An inverter will allow you to run your appliances from your battery bank. With a direct line, the power from your residential wind turbine will run directly into your house's power supply just like it does from the power company. The advantage of this method is that any extra power you generate (more than what you already use that month) will actually flow back to the power company, and they will pay you for it. However, it takes a large turbine (or multiple) to generate enough for this, which leads me to the last step.
Step 4

Decide how much of your power you want to generate with a residential wind turbine. Check your most recent electrical bill to find out how much energy you used that month. Most families use around 1,000 kilowatt hours (kwh) of energy a month. A typical residential wind turbine will produce about 500 watt hours (wh) of power, which would cover about 10% of an average family's energy bill, depending on how windy their home is. The more wind turbines you install, the more energy you will produce. It's that simple.
Step 5

I've also recently opened a website marketing an eBook I wrote detailing wind turbine theory, planning, construction, and installation. It includes detailed plans on how to build the wind turbine I designed. Check it out at www.MyWindTurbinePlans.com