Wind Electricity
Wind turbines convert wind energy into electricity and they can work side by side with the electric solar panels to create more green electricity. Wind electricity has the lowest cost amongst the other renewable energy converters in the market, making it to be the fastest growing generator of green electricity in the world. The USA Dept. of Energy expected the wind power’s cost to keep going down and by 2020 wind electricity will become the cheapest electricity, no other energy sources can beat it.
Denmark is known to be the country generates almost 20% of its electricity with wind turbines –the highest in the world – and there is a plan to increase the wind electricity generation up to 50%. Other countries such as United States, Germany, Spain, China, India, Italy, France and United Kingdom also increase their wind power capacity rapidly.
Environmental Impacts
There are at least 3 major environmental impacts caused by the wind electricity generator:
- Noise Pollution
Wind turbines, especially the old designed ones also produce noise at a certain level. This noise can only be controlled; we can’t totally eliminate the noise emitted. You can hear the noise in the area of wind power farms.
- Wildlife Impacts
Early designs of Wind Turbines affected the bird populations significantly. To solve this negative issue some improvements have been made including tubular tower design and slower turbine blades.
- Visual Impacts
Some people may see these wind turbines as visibly polluting the natural landscapes.
Home Wind Electricity Generator
Don’t get discouraged by the environmental impacts above. You can neglect the noise because new designed home wind turbines are smaller and it will be located quite high, around 90 to 120 ft above the ground. Installing it will increase your property value, it has a long lifespan (up to 20 years) so it will be a good investment as well. After the first half of its life you can expect to have the wind electricity for free. The system is designed to run automatically so there is not much maintenance you can do. This will be another benefit of the system. Unused electricity can be sold to the utility company (net metering), reducing your monthly electricity bill. When combined with solar electricity you have redundant power plants to work with the grid power. Calculate the solar cost to figure out whether it will benefit you more.
Before buying your wind turbines first check what the average wind speed in your area is. If it falls below the turbine’s cut in speed you are suggested to look for other green energy alternatives.
Making Your Own Wind Electricity
If you need a guide to make your own micro wind turbines there are some great e-books written by green energy experts, you may want to check the links below:
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