Building A Wind Generator Can Reduce Utility Bills

Inflation in the price of utilities, like electricity and gas, is provoking a rethink on using alternative methods to generate power. If you have taken a car journey to any remote parts of the country, you will porbably have seen banks of wind turbines scattered acros the countryside or even in parts of the sea. You certainly wouldn't miss one as the are generally group togther and are large pylons with a turning rotor on the top. The rotors are moved by the strength of the wind that is converted to electrical energy by a generator. This is sold to homeowners by the utility companies.

Many people are looking at building a wind generator that makes electricity to offset their normal energy use. This can save them a bit of money on utility bills and lessen the reliance on fossils fuels to power their home. This short article will detail the initial planning, viability and how to make a home built wind generator.

Why a Home Built Wind Generator ?

Traditionally, a wind generator has been used in the home when it is fairly remote and is not connected to the grid. As a general guideline, your home needs a clear, unobstructed area of land to construct the wind generator. Other ways to generate energy and often used alongside wind power. Thus it can be used in combination with another energy generating system, like a gas powered generator or, more commonly these days, a solar power system.

The advantage of having a solar/wind energy generating set up is that the wind can work at all times but is more likely to be effective when the sun is down and the solar power system doesn't work. Thus you have a energy creating system 24/7.

Two considerations when it comes to wind generators for the home is that you have enough wind and enough space. If you live in a built up area then it is a good idea to consider any concerns your neighbors may have about a large construction close to their home. By letting your neighbors know of your plans they are more likely to be agreeable during the construction.

Kit Versus Do It Yourself

The next question is whether to buy a kit or do it yourself. The basic argument for each option comes down to the cost. A kit will cost more but you will probably find it easier to put up and may well save time on the project. The vendor may even offer a service to erect the wind turbine if you are not inclined to do DIY projects.

A home built system will be cheaper to make but will be harder to build and will probably take more time to complete. This depends on your level of expertise in DIY. You can make your job easier by getting one of the many DIY guides that are available now.

A home built wind power system that is based on one of these guides can be completed for around $200 which represents a considerable cost saving over a pre made kit or even a professionally erected system.

The quantity of power your wind generator will create depends on the amount of wind that you get and the size of the generator. Where you live and the wind conditions can determine whether a generator may just reduce your utility bill by a few dollar each month or be a significant source of your energy needs.

Get more information on a step by step guide to building your own wind generator and a solar power system at Earth 4 Energy Videos and many other facts and figures about alternative energy at solar power 

Biofuels as Alternative Sources of Energy

Biofuels are produced by converting organic matter into fuel for powering our society. More often today, these biofuels are being used as an alternative energy source to the fossil fuels that we currently depend upon. Ethanol and derivatives of plants such as sugar cane, as well as vegetable and corn oils are all included in the aresenal of different biofuels. The International Energy Agency (IEA) tells us that ethanol could comprise up to 10 percent of the world's usable gasoline by 2025, and up to 30 percent by 2050. Ethanol accounts for two percent of usage today.

However, we have a long way to go to refine these biofuels that we are researching and they become extremely economical and practical. Oregon State University did a study that proves this concept. We have yet to develop biofuels that are as energy efficient as gasoline made from petroleum. Energy efficiency is the measure of how much usable energy for our needed purposes is derived from a certain amount of input energy. (Nothing that mankind has ever used has derived more energy from output than from the needed input. In other words, the end product is what we use as alternative energy and needs to be more efficent than the effort used to produce it.)

The OSU study found corn-derived ethanol to be only 20% energy efficient while gasoline made from petroleum is 75% energy efficient and biodiesel fuel was recorded at 69% energy efficient. However, the study did turn up one positive: cellulose-derived ethanol was charted at 85% efficiency, which is even higher than that of the fantastically efficient nuclear energy.

There are several nations which are seriously involved in the development of biofuels. Brazil happens to be the world's biggest producer of ethanols derived from sugars. The country produces approximately three and a half billion gallons of ethanol per year. The United States, while being the world's greatest oil-guzzler, is already the second largest producer of biofuels behind Brazil. The European Union's biodiesel production capacity is now in excess of four million (British) tonnes - mostly derived from rapeseed oil; soybean oil and a marginal quantity of palm oil.

Recently, oil futures have been down on the New York Stock Exchange, as analysts from several different countries are predicting a surge in biofuel availability. This would offset the value of oil, dropping crude oil prices on the international market to somewhere around $40 per barrel. The Chicago Stock Exchange has a grain futures market which is starting to “steal” investment activity away from the oil futures in NY, as investors are definitely expecting better profitability to start coming from biofuels.

Indeed, it is predicted by a consensus of analysts that biofuels shall be supplying seven percent of the entire world's transportation fuels by the year 2030. Demand for diesel and gasoline may slow down dramatically, says one energy markets analyst, if the government subsidizes firms distributing biofuels and further pushes to promote the use of eco-friendly fuel.

Residential Windmills: Make Windmill

Earth4Energy is a guide that explains how to reduce the cost of your electricity and switch to an environmental way of using energy. We, all hear the talk about the Presidential Candidates promise to concentrate on producing energy. Of course, there are different alternative energy options, which include biofuel, electricity windmill, solar energy and renewable energy. No matter, which one you choose, you will be able to save on your gas and electric bill.

This instruction guide makes an attempt to show you how to build your own residential windmills or some call it electricity windmills. With the step by step instructions, the guide promises to help you to eliminate or reduce your electric bill.

One of the main issues of having a homemade electrical supply is the high cost of installation of the system that needs to be put in place. You may end up paying up to $20,000 for one of these wind powered systems and it would take up to 15 years to see the real savings. When you make your own windmill, solar panel or wind turbine, your cost would be no more than $200. The returns on savings will be experienced sooner - in a matter of weeks.

What you receive:

You will be able to download Earth4Energy instantly. The guide consists of 73 pages that you can print and read at your leisure or read directly from your computer monitor.

What Kind of Skills and Tools are Needed:

All you need are some basic handy-man skills with tools that most homeowners use such as an electric drill, hammer, saw, screw driver, paint and jigsaw. That is about it.

You will have to hire an electrician who is licensed if you want to connect your solar or wind generator to the wiring system in your home to run your appliances. However, an electrician would be able to do so quite easily and it would still save you a lot in the long run.

How Long does It Take To Build?

All it will take is a weekend once you have purchased the materials required. One week is the maximum time it would take for someone who had an average set of skills.

The Disadvantages:

The guide does not give an EXACT step by step action on how to make windmills or solar panels that the author has built.

However, the author does indicate in the Earth4Energy, that you may not find the exact parts that were used in his wind generator project. Therefore, what the guide does is to give you an understanding of the concept with building your own wind generator so you will be better able to adapt the principle. There were some details that were missing, which annoyed me. There was nothing said about mounting solar panels to the roof of the house neither was it clear how to mount the wind generator and assemble the blade. It may be more obvious as you start the building process, I guess.

The other thing I thought the author could have done was to include a video with the guide. I have yet to find a video that has been done about this topic. A video presentation is quite likely to give more hands-on and visual demonstration than the written word can do by itself.

With the pages of Earth4Energy, there are a couple of chapters that contained a bunch of fluff about ethanol and reducing your independence on oil, which we already know and that is why you are here, right?

The Advantages:

The guide is concise, clear, easily understood and quite simple. When reading this guide, it is apparent that the author has indeed built his own solar, electric windmill and other wind generator. So he is not writing from fiction, but from experience.

The guide does have a lot of diagrams, pictures and illustrations that do a good job of making things more clear and understandable. The guide is readily downloadable immediately after purchases. I was able to grab a copy at a low discounted price of just $49.97, which is quite reasonable since this is specific information that you won't be able to get readily. $49.97 is minuscule when you think of how much money you will save in the long run. This is quite a small investment for a life saving of thousands of dollars on electricity.

Customer Support:

Of course, when you buy anything, you always want to know that you are getting good customer support. Earth4Energy provides an email address for any technical questions. On the website, you will be able to access free updates of the product. Within July 2008 alone, there were six updates posted online.

Money Back Guarantee: Earth4Energy has an offer of 60 day money back guarantee.

Cost: My copy was on sale for $49.97 USD

Conclusion:

I highly recommend earth4energy to anyone who wants to make your own windmill, solar panel or wind powered generator to save on electricity. I give this guide a rating of 9.9 out of 10. It is the best one by far that is currently on the market.

This guide is very economical and excellent for providing the right information to creating any of these energy-saving devices. The author could have sold it for more money and it is because of all of these reasons that I feel comfortable in highly recommending earth4energy.

Visit the main Earth4Energy website right now

Save $100's On Your Power Bills With Renewable Energy

Every time the price of power goes up (which seems to be every month at the moment), ever more people are thinking about using renewable energy for at least part of their regular supply.

The kind of renewable energy you ot for will very much depend on where you are in the world. If you live in a fairly sunny part of the world, you'll likely decide to use solar energy.Image by Rob__ via Flickr

If you're in a colder part of the world, chances are that your thoughts will turn to using the power of the wind instead.

Each of these has advantages and disadvantages.

Pretty obviously, solar power only works in daylight, even if it doesn't need full sunlight nowadays. If you live in a hot climate, the sun will be shining at the time you most need your power for air conditioning and other such items. If you're further north then the benefits of solar power may be less, although we still use power in the summer months, when output will be higher, or solar power could contribute to running your computer in the day, your fridge and even some evening lighting for your garden or patio.

Likewise, wind turbines need at least a breeze in order to operate but they'll also have an upper limit of windspeed, beyond which they won't operate - if the wind falls below a certain speed, they won't operate, if it blows too fast the turbine may struggle to keep up. You also need to remember that even in the most windy place, there are times of dead calm, so you'll need a battery or regular power connection for such times. This problem also means that unless you have your own storage, you shouldn't totally go off grid power if you rely on wind.

Once you've decided on the type of renewable energy you want, the next decision is whether to buy an off-the-shelf product or go for DIY renewable energy. You can get a set of comprehensive renewable energy instructions to help take you down this path if you like, with the added advantage that you'll be saving hundreds of dollars if you go down the DIY renewable energy path.

Alternative Energy Is Our Future

The availability of alternative energy comes in many different forms. One of these is solar power: Solar power is driven by photovoltaic cells, and these are progressively getting less expensive and more advanced.

There aren't any areas where solar power cannot be utilized including: generating electricity and hot water plus of course it has the added benefit of being pollution free. However, much more work still needs to be done in order for us to economically harness the sun's energy. The one major problem is storing the power for use when the sun is not as strong, on overcast days and when night falls.Image via Wikipedia

As of the moment, the most-invested-in alternative energy source favored by many private investors as well as the government is the wind energy. Huge double and triple bladed windmills can be seen around the world, working constantly, day and night to produce large amounts of electricity. Of course, there is nothing new about the concept of a windmill for harnessing energy.

The windmills used today are massive compared to those used in the past and much more 'high-tech' and often referred to as 'wind-turbines'. The only downside to this form of power is when the wind isn't blowing, you cannot produce power. Of course, the power we need can come from other sources when this happens so currently we cannot rely completely on wind power even if we had sufficient farms to cater for our needs.

A massive quantity of power can be obtained from another source of alternative energy which is the hydroelectric energy. All that is required is a large body of water and gravity - this fall of water from a great height is able to turn large turbines which generate electrical power. As water is everywhere it has not generally been a problem finding locations where it can be employed.

The main problem with this process is the initial financial cost and the size of these dams means it is a lengthy project which does not come without it's own issues. Building of dams is often the most common and effective means of controlling the flow of water to sufficiently provide the source in generating the needed power.

Conservationists are starting to be worried about operating a dam as it not only requires a lot of labour building it to store and control water's potential and kinetic energy but it can also be risky and complicated. To produce power this way does not always require a dam, especially if it is only a small community that is being serviced.

There are other options that you may use especially if it is just to supply neighbourhoods or an individual office or home such as small run-of-river hydroelectric converters.

However, the most underused and under-rated form of energy is geo-thermal: this is the heat which is generated inside the planet beneath the crust. The earth's inner molten core is the one responsible for transferring the heat into the water.

Power plants use a number of ways to draw this water to the surface and harness it into 'free' energy. When hot water is drawn up, it simply means that there is the need to gather steam. The Geysers is an example of a dry stream plant located in the region of about 100 miles north of San Francisco and perhaps the best-known of all geothermal power fields.

The Good And Bad Of Using Solar Power

Fans of solar power would say that it is the way to fuel the future. Cynics have a tendency to find reasons why solar power won't work. The reality is that there's some validity to both sides.Image via Wikipedia

There are both advantages and drawbacks of using solar power. Since the daylight is widely available each day at least to some degree, it is straightforward to make use of its energy such as with solar water heating.

For each solar power system that is used, pollution is cut down that much more. Solar power is clean and puts off no damaging emissions into the atmosphere. It causes no pollution of the water supply and no fouling of the soil. There's simply no energy source that causes less damage to the earth. Solar power systems can be expected to last a while. They need to be built to last so that owners can recoup their investments. It seems that solar power systems last much lengthier compared to that. The trustworthiness factor is vital for any power source.

Solar energy passes the test of dependability with flying colors. The expenses for maintaining a solar power system are extraordinarily low. Some parts of the system may last decades without any upkeep at all. Solar panels are sometimes assured to maintain eighty percent of their potency for as much as twenty-five years. A solar power system is neither too perilous nor too difficult for most folk to run. It needs no supervision from the govt. Or any other agency as it poses no hazards. The price of running the systems is also awfully low. There are actually some negative facets of using solar power. Before purchasers can have any solar power, they must invest thousands of bucks. In 5 to 10 years, they are going to make up the price tag by saving on electric bills. The other main reason that solar power isn't ideal is that it does not perform well on cloudy days or at all at night. In the final analysis, the benefits of solar power far outweigh the downsides. It appears the main sticking point is cost. Yet, as green technology comes down in price, this sort of energy becomes even more fascinating.

Global Warming Ways to Help

If you regularly watch television, surf the internet, or listen to the radio, there is a good chance that you have heard about global warming.Image by Getty Images via Daylife

Press and media outlets have elevated the issue in the public consciousness through their increased coverage. Being concerned about the issue is something that many of us are, thanks in part to the continuing debate and disagreements over the issue. After all, so much is at stake for our future family members.

Fighting against global warming does not have to take a lot of effort or money out of your pocket. There is entirely too much emphasis placed on vehicles and appliances that are energy efficient. Every little bit helps, and if you do not have the budget for the big items, there are less expensive ways to become proactive.

Your home is the key to helping you combat global warming.

If you are not using an electrical appliance, such as your computer, shut it off. As an added bonus, your electricity bill will decrease, saving you money as you help out future generations.

Reducing electrical usage by turning off all the lights and appliances is simple. This is not only a free way to help out, but you can also save money at the same time!

Another way you can help is by making sure your thermostat is not turned up too high so enjoy the comfort of wearing a sweater instead. The amount of reduction in toxicity your home produces can be substantial with a change in just a few degrees.

Many people do not understand the benefits to using energy efficient light bulbs, or how that differs from traditional ones. Another benefit that many users of these energy efficient light bulbs discover is an increased amount of savings on their electric bills.

A typical energy efficient bulb can operate for a year or two, making them last much longer than traditional light bulbs. Depending on where you shop, you may be able to buy these lights for around five dollars per multi-pack.

The contributions to combating global warming are not constricted to homeowners, as renters can help to. If you feel cold air sneaking into your house when it shouldn't, speak to your landlord about making window repairs.

Though many people hesitate to bring items such as the hot water heater or insulating blanket up to their landlord, these tips can result in saving him or her money in the long run.

Not everyone can afford to buy an energy efficient vehicle such as a hybrid, and those people can still help out by examining their day to day transportation habits. First, examine how often you drive and if those drives are really necessary.

Could you walk, join a carpool, or take public transportation instead?

If you want to help fight global warming, you can easily do so by choosing to simply not drive three times you normally would during the week.

Alternative Energy Of The Future

Alternative energy is quickly becoming more prominent nowadays, and environmental concern is no longer just reserved for the tree huggers. People are starting to wake up and realize that our planet is slowly being destroyed by pollution and a lack of responsibility for the environment. Alternative energy is slowly emerging as a viable industry, and it is not yet clear which companies have the best solutions for the future. This actually makes the alternative energy sector ideal for Exchange Traded Funds, which are ideal for spreading risk among the stocks of various companies and technologies. This Earth4Energy review explains how you can make an impact by yourself. There may also be future technologies for the transformation of coal to a clean source of energy.Image via Wikipedia

Alternative energy sources must be developed so that everyone on Earth can have reliable, efficient and environmentally friendly ways to run their cars, power their manufacturing plants, and heat and cool their businesses, schools, and homes. Alternative energy simply describes energy sources that are used as an alternative to fossil fuels. Earth 4 Energy is a manual that will let you generate electricity on your own. Generally speaking, it indicates energies that are nontraditional and have a small impact on the environment. Alternative energy technologies such as photovoltaics, wind turbines or biofuels attempt to harvest the abundance of nature's power.

The renewed interest in this field of study comes from the undesirable effects of pollution (which can be seen all over the world), both from burning fossil fuels and from nuclear waste byproducts. Alternative energy is a long term growth industry. As the economies of the world continue to grow, energy consumption will rise. It is not even that much more expensive to build an energy efficient house or automobile. Alternative energy grants from national governments can act as a driving force in developing viable alternative energy for our daily consumption.

Solar energy continues to have potential, but it is not quite yet economically viable, nor will it be able to supply more than a small fraction of our energy use for another 10-20 years. The Review Earth4Energy site is dedicated to informing the public about how they can save the environment. Solar panels can provide plentiful power during the long hours of summer sun, but wind generators should be added to help support these systems through the winter months. Solar energy would obviously be a key part of achieving full energy independence.