Mini Wind/Electric Turbine

[Old John]

Hi Y'all,

I got this on one of the Lists, I'm on. And I thought Homesteaders might be Interested.
It leaves me with a lot of questions. But there prob'ly isn't a steady enough Wind, out here in Indiana, to make it Worthwhile, anyway.
So it's moot, I guess. Here you are.

http://www.sovereignty.org.uk/featur.../rooflash.html

How small a Wind/Electric Turbine is Practical?
How Much Wind does it Require?
How much *wiring & relay Equipment* is a Home going to need?
How much return can I expect from my investment, if any?

Please, Does anyone have any concrete answers to these questions?
Thanks.
If it might be a real-World consideration, to at least cut your electrical
costs..........Why Not?
I'm not sure about trying to go off the Grid altogether.
But, Savings is Savings. A penny saved & all that......

Thanks again.

[wy_white_wolf]

Might want to repost this in the Alternative energy forum. I'm Sure Jim-mi and Wis-Jim will have some thoughts for you there.

[WisJim]

It all depends on how windy it ACTUALLY is at your site. Not what the neighbors have, not the wind at the airport a mile away, not that you think the "Wind is always blowing", but actual measured wind speed at a reasonable height (30 feet is often used for preliminary measurement purposes) above the ground. However, measuring the wind can cost as much as putting up one of the smaller wind generators, due to cost of a pole or tower to mount the measuring equip, and the purchase or rental of the equipment to measure and record the wind measurements.

A very general US map shows that Indiana doesn't have really good wind regime:
http://rredc.nrel.gov/wind/pubs/atla...ap2/2-01m.html
A map of Indiana wind resources:
http://www.eere.energy.gov/windandhy...in_50m_800.jpg

Unless you want to experiment with home-built wind generators, you would be better off investing in photovoltaics. I am in western Wisconsin, where the wind is considered to be better (stronger) than Indiana, and I feel that in my particular location PVs are a better investment than a wind generator, even though I do have a wind generator and it works fine--just that if I had invested the money in PVs instead of the wind machine, I would get more power in a year's time from the PVs.

homebuilt wind machines:
http://www.otherpower.com/otherpower_wind.html

[uncle Will in In.]

I was here in Indiana before they had all the Rural Electric Coops up and running. Several country homes had a wind charger. This was a small propeller mounted on top of some outbuilding. It was on a metal framework not over 4 feet high. THe prop was 3 blades if I recall right. The diameter of the prop was about 4 feet or less. It ran a little generater that charged a bank of glass cased batterys. These were about the size of todays car batterys. They were in a line on a bench in the building under the charger. Maybe 6 or 8 of them. They put out 32 volts. The house had wiring for lights only. They used a heavy double wire that ran through each ceiling joist inside a porcelane tube used as insulaters. A light bulb in the center of each room pretty well was all they had. A 32 volt bulb sure beat an old coal oil lamp. They were called a Delco Plant.
The better outfits used a gas engine to power the generaters. Some even had automatic starters on the engines. Of course paying nearly 20 cents a gallon for gas was difficult.

[Old John]

Thanks, for the information & comments.
Looks like Wind would not be the answer for our
present circumstances.
Do what you can, I guess.
Take care.

[lonewolfparker]

sure would like this at my place here in kansas