Tag → Homemade wind Turbine

Wind Turbine Costs

15 August, 17:36, by homemadejoe Tags: , ,

The thought of becoming independent from utility companies and producing your own electricity is a worthy yet daunting task. Although we want to be free from costly electric bills, the issue of the cost-effectiveness and the total installation cost of wind turbines seem intimidating.

Cost of commercial wind turbines are affected by the following factors:

•    construction contracts

•    project location

•    type of machine

•    cost of wind project components including expenses for site analysis and resource assessment

•    freight and price of tower and turbine

•    upgrades of utility system

•    metering and protection equipment

•    construction expenses

•    transformers

•    operations

•    warranty

•    repair and maintenance

•    insurance

•    consultation and legal fees

•    taxes

All of these factors affect the overall installation and operational cost of commercial wind turbine. However, if you are building homemade wind turbines, you don’t need to meet all these requirements and spend such great amount of money.

Cost of residential wind turbines

While commercial wind turbines can range from more than $2 million in total expenses, a residential wind turbine with a size needed to generate power for an average home can roughly cost $35,000 to $50,000, and can still drop if you are planning to build homemade wind turbines.

Wind energy cost higher than solar energy, with insignificant fuel cost but a higher capital cost. Professional installation of wind turbine systems ranges from $4,000 to $6,000 per kilowatt capacity, not including rebates and credits. If you are new to building residential wind turbines, it is recommended to build a single unit and then check the reliability of the system before installing another tower. This way you can eliminate errors and verify the consistency and wattage output of the wind turbine system.

Through the years, there is significant drop of turbine prices, allowing project developers and individuals to venture into wind energy and create their own wind turbines.

Facts about wind energy cost:

•    the higher the capacity of wind energy system, the lower the cost per kilowatt hour

•    a gradual increase in turbine cost is expected in 2012 to 2013

•    onshore turbine costs is lower compared to the steel price surge and other commodity prices

•    the decrease cost of turbines is due to the higher yields per MW

An average home needs to be powered by at least 10kW of wind energy. That means you need to spend at least $40,000 to power your home. Building homemade wind turbines is relatively cheaper compared to having the turbines installed by a private company or a professional wind system installer. It also allows you to get off the grid and avoid monthly utility bills from your electric company. However, there are several setbacks like not getting warranty for the whole wind energy system and less rebates from the local government.

One way of reducing wind turbine costs is to connect your turbine to the national grid. This allows you to get up to 40% of subsidies and dividends a year. To get more information on wind energy, turbine costs, subsidies, credits, and rebates, visit your local government agencies.

How do you make a homemade wind vane?

30 July, 17:29, by homemadejoe Tags: , , ,

How do you make a homemade wind vane?

Wind vanes are mechanical devices showing wind’s direction. Though the weight is evenly distributed, the surface area of a wind vane is designed unequally distributed so that the pointer can move freely on its axis. It is the larger surface area that is being blown away from the winds direction. The smaller area where the pointer is located then points towards the wind direction.

Though wind vanes can basically give idea about wind’s direction this may not be accurate especially when there are too many interferences around such as trees, buildings and other objects. For this reason, these mechanical devices are sometimes use for decorative purposes. Earlier wind vanes even had ornamental pointers but nowadays, they are usually found with simple pointers.

There are many materials from which a wind vane can be constructed. However, the design has to consider the main purpose of these instruments – to tell the wind direction as accurate as possible. Wind vane can be an important tool for those with homemade wind turbines.

Using this device, the owner can always have a way of tracking wind direction. Moreover, wind vanes can also be used by those planning to build homemade wind turbines to properly select the best location for these electricity generators.

One of the simplest ways to make a home-made wind vane is by using plastic materials, cardboards and some markers. The first part that should be done is the base or the stand of the vane. A plastic soda bottle will do. Fill this with dirt, sand and pebbles. It is important to make sure that this will be stable enough to hold the vane as it follows the wind direction.

Near the top of the bottle, mark four points of equal spaces. These points will represent the four directions: north, east, west and south. Cut out two pieces of cardboard for the tail and for the point. A recommended measurement for the tail is 3 inches long by 3 inches wide. The other piece of the cardboard should be in the shape of a triangle that is 2 inches high at the wide end.

Lay the tail and the pointer on the table and lay a straw over them. Tape these two cardboards on each end of the straw. It is important to ensure that the tape will be long and strong enough to hold these cardboard pieces on both ends.

Find the exact middle of the straw and push a straight pin. The end of the pin is then push in a pencil eraser. Let the pencil stick into the dirt or pebbles inside the base bottle. Take note that after accomplishing these steps, you now have a wind vane and that the straw should move freely to serve its function.

The final step is doing some calibration. Find the true north using a compass. Upon locating, position the wind vane such that the N or the north markings on the bottle is in line with the same north as with the compass direction. Unlike the homemade wind turbines, making a home-made wind vane is definitely much easier with no so much money involved. Scrapped materials can even be used.