Buying residential wind turbine – Factors to consider

Wind power is among the most popular renewable energy sources so it is really no surprise that wind turbines have started becoming a very common option to deliver electricity in many households around the globe. Prior to buying wind turbine you need to know some very important things, and the story will start with area you live in.

Area where you live in should have wind speeds above 10 mph to get any significant output from wind turbine. The increase in wind speed increases the output from wind turbine, and the more power you produce from wind turbine the less power you will need from the local utility, and if you happen to achieve extra output you can always sell it to the local utility.

Also when people think about buying residential wind turbine they want to know how much More »

Wind generator blades – How to make at home

One reader from Canada has wrote me an email telling me that he plans to build his own wind generator, and wants all the useful information about wind generator blades. Making wind generator blades is an excellent start towards building your own wind generator but there are certainly lot of things you need to know prior to starting your wind energy project. But don’t be afraid building wind generator blades is not exactly a nuclear physics.

You can build you homemade wind generator blades More »

Wind turbine placement

In order to make your wind energy project economically viable wind turbine placement is one of the most important factors to consider. The good selection of location for your wind turbine can in many cases mean the difference between economic success and failure to even return the investment.

The location needs to have constantly high wind speeds to ensure the maximum efficiency but there are some other factors that need to be considered. These factors include the availability of transmission lines, value of energy to be produced, cost of land acquisition, land use considerations, and you should also More »

Wind energy in Iowa

In Iowa wind energy is currently without the doubt the most popular renewable energy source, and Iowa recently even overtook California, and became second ranked U.S. state in installed wind power capacity, trailing only undisputed Texas. But if we compare Texas and Iowa then we can see that Iowa produces more wind energy per capita than any other state, including Texas.

By the end of the third quarter of 2009 the installed capacity for wind power in Iowa was more than respectable 3053 megawatts (MW) which equals to 11% of the totally installed wind capacity in the U.S., and wind power generates about 15% of total electricity in Iowa.

This is still only a small share of total wind energy potential in Iowa as according to some calculations Iowa has the potential to produce 4.8 times its own annual electrical consumption by harnessing wind power. More »

Wind energy in Colorado

Wind power is the fastest growing renewable energy sector in the United States. Texas is currently the state that convincingly leads in installed wind energy capacity with 9,410 MW (the data from the end of 2009), while Colorado is the sixth ranked state with 1241 MW of installed wind energy capacity. When it comes to renewable energy then the state of Colorado deserves the special credit because Colorado’s renewable energy standards date from 2004, and Colorado is the first U.S. state to establish this type of legislation.

The state of Colorado has very good wind energy potential, in fact it ranks as 11th in US for potential wind power output, with the total wind energy potential of 481 billion kW/year. More »

Wind energy potential in Iowa

Overall speaking, U.S. has very good wind energy potential, and one of the U.S. states that could have the biggest benefits from harnessing wind energy is Iowa. Iowa was so far ranked as 10th U.S. state for total wind energy potential but the latest study carried out by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory showed that Iowa has significantly bigger wind energy potential than it had according to previous estimates.

The result of this study puts Iowa at No7. among U.S. states in wind energy potential ranking, More »

Residential wind turbines

A few decades ago it may have seemed a bit ludicrous to actually assume that your personal home could be used as a power generation station that can supply you and even your surrounding area with your own electricity if developed properly. Today, with the growing interest in wind turbine technology and its applications, however, millions of people worldwide are seeking out personal residential wind turbines for their own usage at home or elsewhere.

Residential wind turbines come in a number of different shapes and sizes and can be purchased in order to meet your specific needs. While it’s true that for many larger-scale turbines many city and state governments have regulations in place about how and where they can be set to operate in order to ensure More »

How do wind turbines work

Wind is caused by known physical processes occurring within the Earth’s atmosphere. The Sun heats the Earth’s surface unevenly, and the air above hot land rises and is replaced by air from cooler regions. These bulk movements of air result in winds. Man has sought to harness the power of wind for thousands of years, first by utilizing sails to power ships, and then from about the 7th century, by dedicated machinery — windmills. Now, as we prepare to leave the first decade of the 21st century, with diminishing fossil fuel reserves and increasing pressure worldwide for greater use of cleaner, renewable energy production, man once more has turned his attention to harnessing the power of wind by using wind turbines. More »

Wind Energy: Pros and Cons

Due to unrestrained use, fossil fuels reserves are fast depleting. If predictions are to be believed, in a few years, there will be acute shortage of this non-renewable fuel. While the fossil fuels take millions of years to form, the most feasible option is to switch over to other renewable forms of energy like the wind energy. In simple words, wind energy is a modified form of solar energy.

The Earth is heated unevenly by the sun because of its shape. More »

Cheap homemade windmill

Nowadays one of the biggest issues the world is facing is the energy production issue. The earth is steadily running out of the resources that were being used to produce energy. We can however, overcome this problem by using renewable energy. Renewable energy allows us to use natural resources like solar power or wind energy to create electricity.

As time passes by the number of people using wind energy is constantly increasing, More »