Cheap Home Wind Power

Is it possible to get cheap home wind power? Buying a domestic wind turbine or building one yourself (recommended only for the technically minded) is not very cheap at first. However, it will pay off in the long run. According to the American Wind Energy Association, a wind turbine may lower your electricity bill by 50 to 90 percent. Electricity-only homes can have utility bills of only $8 to $15 for nine months of the year. In northern parts of the country where less air conditioning is used the bills can be low year-round.

There are several factors that determine how cheap home wind power will be: the initial purchase and installation costs, amount of electricity used and average wind speed at your property site, to name but a few.

As mentioned before, a domestic turbine is the main apparatus for those looking to get cheap home wind power. Basically, it is a smaller version of those large-scale turbines we see looming over the landscape. It can be fitted to the house or somewhere suitable very close to the building.

In order to generate cheap wind power for a typical contemporary home with all the accoutrements of modern life, a domestic wind turbine needs to span five meters (16.4 feet) from tip to tip on a site where wind conditions are good. Homes use approximately 9,400 kilowatt-hours (kWh) of electricity per year (about 780 kWh per month). Depending on the average wind speed in the area, in order to meet his demand a wind turbine rated in the range of 5 to 15 kilowatts would be required.

But not everyone is geographically posited to enjoy the benefits of cheap home wind power. Wind turbines are fairly big, therefore unsuitable for urban or suburban homes built on small lots. The AWEA recommends a property size of one acre or more. The organization also recommends that turbine owners should have at least a 10 mph average wind speed and be paying at least 10 cents/kWh for electricity. The Northeast and the Midwest are the areas with the highest number of residential wind turbines in the United States, but they can be found in almost every state.

Building a wind turbine, which requires some expertise and a very detailed guide, can help those looking for cheap home wind power. Materials can be purchased at a local hardware store. The cost of materials should be in the hundreds of dollars � that will depend on the size of the turbine.