As energy prices continue to soar, more and more people are looking to alternative means in order to generate electricity. While solar power is relatively low-maintenance, due to its lack of moving parts, it can also be extremely expensive, especially if it is used to power an entire home. A more economical alternative is to use the power of the wind to generate electricity. For the same price as about 75 watts of solar power, one can purchase a wind generator capable of producing about 400 watts at peak efficiency.
Instructions
Research the average wind speed in your area. There are many places online that will have a history of the wind speed near your home, and there are also maps that describe the average wind speed for an area. Many wind generators do not produce suitable amounts of power until the wind reaches 10 miles-per-hour or above. If you are planning to generate large amounts of wind power, it is advisable to purchase wind-measuring equipment to get an accurate, long-term analysis of the wind speeds in your area.
Determine the amount of power you would like to generate. Add up the wattage of all of the appliances, lights, and electronics you would like to run. If the wattage is not listed on a particular device, there are plenty of resources online to give you an estimate of the device’s power consumption. Alternatively, you could multiply the voltage of the device by the current draw, or amperage, to find the wattage. If you will be completely off-grid, you will need to make sure you have extra power to store for times with no wind.
Buy an appropriately sized wind generator for your home. A wind generator is essentially a permanent-magnet generator that is turned by a propeller assembly. With a few parts, and some of the freely available instructions that are available on the internet, it is also relatively easy to build your own wind generator. With a bit of experimentation, you can approach the efficiency of the retail models, for a fraction of the cost.
Choose where to locate your wind generator. The location should be free from obstructions, such as trees, and the wind generator should be at least 35 feet in the air, in order to avoid air turbulence that is caused as the wind blows over and through objects near the ground. Reducing turbulence will reduce the amount of vibration that the wind generator must endure and increase its reliability.
Connect the wind generator to either a grid-tie inverter, for an on-grid house, or to a charge controller and a battery bank, for off grid use. When used on a grid-tied home, any power that is not supplied by the wind generator can be supplied by the grid on calm days. On windy days, any excess power produced by the wind generator can be sold back to the grid. In an off-grid home, the excess power on windy days is stored in the battery bank for use on calm days. Typically, an inverter will be connected to the battery bank to run standard household appliances and electronics.

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