Home Wind Power

Electricity is getting ever more expensive and is also a huge burden on the environment.  So it should come as now surprise that many people are “going green” in order to not only save money, but save the earth as well.  This includes everything from battery-powered cars to opting for home wind power.

Wind energy can be defined in either technical terms or simple terms. Simply put, you can turn the wind into electricity by using a wind turbine. Wind turbines consist of a large tower with huge blades that are turned by the wind. The turning of the blades produces energy, which the turbine turns into electricity that you can use to power your home.

Would you like to hear it put another way?

Basically, wind power works opposite the way a fan works. Technically speaking, the fan uses electricity in order to turn the blades, which produce wind. The turbine uses the wind to turn the blades, which produces electricity. Pretty neat, huh?

A hundred years ago, windmills were used for milling flour. The idea of a windmill was basically the same as a turbine – let the wind move the blades and do the work for you. Back then, of course, no one would have envisioned using windmills for home wind power. But technology is a wonderful thing and the initial ideas for windmills have given birth to the modern wind turbine.

Wind power is a wonderful renewable resource that does not harm the environment.  However, a turbine is rather ugly and does make a bit of noise so you certainly would not want to put one near your house or near your neighbors. In fact, most towns have ordinances dictating where you can put a residential turbine. You also need a lot of land in order to use one large enough to power your entire home.

One turbine does not really produce a lot of electricity either. You need more than twelve turbines in order to power your entire house. Also, the storage of this power is not so advanced and there will be times when there is no wind so you cannot rely entirely on wind power to run your home all the time.

Like solar power, the best solution is a combination of using the wind and then going back on the grid when there is not enough energy being produced from wind power alone.

As technology moves on, you will see more residentially friendly versions of the wind turbine. There are even some models coming out now that are not as intrusive to the environment, but can also produce a small amount of power by simply mounting them on your roof under the right conditions. So, you see, home wind power is a great renewable resource that will become more and more accessible to many homeowners going forward.

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