Different Sizes, Different Power Output
Although sizes vary, your little power producer will be roughly three to five feet wide from the tip of one propeller to the other. The one area where residential wind power may be a problem involves height. To make electricity, your turbine needs to get 10 miles an hour of wind. This may sound like a lot, but it often is not if you go 20 or 30 feet up in the air. To this end, you can do a search for small wind information to find out the statistics for your area. In general you will need a reasonable speed and consistency of wind. If there’s not enough wind then your next best alternative is using solar power - something else that the Earth4Energy guidebook can assist you with. ? You will also need to ensure that the part of your property where you are considering basing the wind turbine has reasonably low wind interference. Nearby trees and buildings are likely to impact on the strength of the wind as it hits the propeller - you are wanting as much wind strength as possible so this is an important consideration. The good thing is that you can increase the force of the wind by raising the tower upwards. Small scale wind power generation is acheived with small and unobtrusive home wind turbines. A combination of home solar panels-wind turbines can produce much of the power required by the average home. Small wind powered turbines are manufactured by a number of companies and can be readily set up either as a rooftop wind turbine or mounted on its own small tower. In Denmark, wind turbines produce 19% of electric production, 9% in Spain and 6% in Germany. Large scale wind farms can produce significant amounts of electricity for population centers, while small, wind turbines and electricity storage systems can supplement individual homeowner’s domestic energy requirements as well. More and more homeowners are cashing in on this proven technology, sometimes even selling power back to the utility company!The one major issue with wind power is its variability.
