Wind power technology has been available for decades and has been steadily getting better and better. It has only been used for residential production of power in the past decade or so and has seen great improvements in both design and efficiency during that time. Modern wind turbines can be a great source of alternative power for many homeowners as they are quieter, smaller and generate more electricity than ever. Homeowners can now find guides and plans that teach how to build a wind turbine.
The biggest issue with early types of wind generators was that they were big and needed a very strong and consistent wind to get them turning. Because of their size and height requirements, they were not a good fit for many homeowners even though they generated sizeable quantities of power. Because of the residential areas in which these wind generators were being used, they needed to be mounted quite high up in the air. They had to be higher than other buildings and trees so that they would be exposed to as strong of a wind as possible to allow them to produce their maximum energy. In order to accomplish this, the wind generator had to be mounted at the top of a heavy duty, and often ugly, tower which was expensive and could cause complaints from neighbors. To make matters worse, there are restrictions on tower height or wind turbine installation in many towns. Large, open areas, free from tall buildings and trees were a better fit for these old, large units.
Modern wind turbine designs have reduced the size of the turbine and helped homeowners with smaller lots or in areas with trees or buildings. more modern designs require much less wind to spin and are much smaller than older types as well. Because of innovative construction materials, newer wind generators are also much lighter than older models. This means that they don’t need to be mounted as high as the older wind turbines and can still produce a good amount of energy from a smaller wind. Another improvement in these more modern wind turbines is their blade design which allows them to be more efficient with the wind they receive and quieter as well. These more recent wind turbines are also much quieter and more efficient thanks to their blade design. This can allow many homeowners who live in smaller neighborhoods to install these more recent wind turbines and generate green energy without causing much disturbance to their neighbors.
Another advantage to these more modern wind generators is that because they are lighter, they can orient themselves more quickly and actually generate power sooner than their larger counterparts. For a wind generator to work, it has to be able to rotate into the wind for proper blade orientation. This is usually accomplished through the use of a tail rudder. Before the bigger wind turbines could even produce power, they needed a strong wind to orient them properly so they could begin spinning. In many cases they could miss a smaller wind completely and never generate power. These newer, lighter wind turbines require less wind to orient them and can start spinning more quickly as a result. So, the older, larger wind turbines were spinning less often even though they would produce more power when they were actually spinning. Because they spin more consistently, the newer and smaller wind turbines will produce nearly as much energy over an entire year as the heaver ones. Lastly, because of their size many of the newer wind generators can be mounted directly to a roof and eliminate a lot of the cost of installation for the older versions. For any homeowner looking to produce renewable power from a passing breeze, a homemade wind turbine can be the perfect alternative.