Home Solar Power

A few years back if I were to ask you what a home wind turbine was, you would most probably describe a massive tower with over-sized rotors plaguing the fields. But, with technology advancing and the ever-increasing energy crisis, it is now possible to have your own, scaled-down home wind turbine. What’s more is if you want to avoid the exorbitant prices of expert systems, you can learn to build and erect it yourself.

So, how does a home wind turbine make power?

A home wind turbine makes power by spinning a generator. The generator is attached to the rotor, made up of three aerodynamic blades, that is then attached to a tower. To keep the turbine facing the wind, the rotor has a tail, that acts as a weather vain.

If you do not know what a turbine/motor is or how it works, let me explain. Copper coils spin past magnets, and create an electromagnetic charge. This charge is then sent through wires to the batteries where it is stored. To use that charge in your home it needs to be passed through an inverter that changes the current from direct to alternating current. The reason wind power has become more popular on a small scale, is because of the improvement and efficiency in the design of the turbine.

Depending on your area’s wind conditions, the tower can vary in length. If you live near the sea where it is windy, the tower can be shorter, but in low-wind areas the tower needs to be taller to catch as much wind possible.

Over time the blades have improved drastically as researchers developed lighter, stronger, more efficient blades, with the capability of turning even in the lightest breeze. Back in the day, wind turbines had five blades, and looked similar to windmill water pumps, but recently they have moved to three blades, taking the form of over-sized airplane rotors. Like the tower, the blades vary in size, according to your wind conditions and energy requirements.

While so far we have been explaining the typical horizontal axis wind turbine, there is another design that is starting to gain popularity for small-scale projects. It is the vertical axis wind turbine or VAWT. Very different to the standard horizontal axis turbine, the VAWT spins on a vertical axis, and almost looks like a waterwheel put on its side. Since the VAWT tends to operate low to ground, it needs far more wind to make it turn efficiently, so it is not the ideal option for homeowners or small businesses. The VAWT has also been accused by ecologists of interrupting and harming various migratory birds, making it less attractive for green enthusiasts.

What you need to know before you buy a home wind turbine:

How big is the property?

Home wind turbines tend to work better in open areas expanding over an acre, where few nearby buildings can deflect the wind.

How windy is it where you live?

For the system to operate effectively, it is best to install the wind turbine is areas where the average wind speed is at least 11 miles per hour. You could get away with this by erecting a taller tower, and fix on larger blades.

Other uses for the wind turbine:

If you could use the turbine for other purposes, such as pumping in water from outside, then it may be more useful than you think. This is the reason you see so many windmills scattered over farms - they help pump water from reservoirs to the farmhouse.

Does my house need a constant power supply?

If you’re a home business owner that requires a constant power supply, or are just tired of the electricity company cutting off the power, then a home wind turbine may be the right solution. Even if the wind turbine is not strong enough to power the entire house for an extended period of time, it will be able to store the power for when you really need it.

Those are the keys to figuring out how much energy you need it to make, how tall the tower needs to be, and ideal sized blades, and the potential costs and benefits of buying a home wind turbine.

The great thing about technology is that it is always improving. So much so that motors have become smaller, efficient and cheap enough for us to attach a few small turbines right on the roof, and produce the same power as a larger turbine on a tall tower.

While commercially available wind power kits can cost up to $100,000, you can learn to make your power for a fraction of the cost, with part and materials sourced at home and the nearby hardware outlet. Even better news is that the United States and other countries offer tax relief for green energy homeowners, so not only can you cut your electricity costs, but your tax expenses too.

Forget about using the home made energy guide to make your own power at home! Try the Earth4Energy Instructions for free, and see how you can cut your power costs by up to 80% with your own home wind turbine and home solar power.

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Introduction

The Efficient Planet guide is not just one book, it’s 3! With 71 pages on how to build a home home solar power system, 51 pages on how to build a home wind turbine, and another 50 pages on how to enjoy efficient living at home, this is one comprehensive set of instructions! It almost hit our #1 spot, over-taking Earth4Energy, but its lack of video instruction put it at #2.

What we like about it:

1 - Comprehensive Instructions

Efficient Planet is by far the most complete and content-rich renewable energy guide available. It has over 175 pages of simple, easy to follow plans and recommendations, and is definitely value for money at a price of $49.97.

2 - Additional free gifts

Efficient planet has a whole host of bonus items for its customers - this includes a 50 page guide on efficient living. Just this guide alone is worth the $49.97. Also included are audio and video interviews with fellow DIYers that have built their own home solar and wind power.

Additional, but irrelevant bonus items included is: ‘Project Wealthy’ - a kit that teaches you everything about running your own efficient home business. And what they call “Undisclosed bonuses”.

3 - Solid plans:

A useful feature of Efficient Planet, is that is has been broken up into 3 separate guides:

The first guide speaks solely on home solar power, with a set of instructions on how to make your solar electric system at home. It also contains information on other home solar power options, such as solar air and water heating, and solar roofing.

The second part provides step-by-step instructions, with diagrams on how to make your own home wind generator. It also goes to talk about the 10 false rumors about wind power, and how to use it effectively at home.

The final part is devoted to showing you how to easily save power at home and thus reduce your power bill. Although we knew most of what it tells you to do, it really complemented the rest of the Efficient Planet series, with the goal of becoming more energy efficient.

Why it is not the best guide:

1: Lack of video instructions

Initially we thought Efficient Planet is the most complete set of solar and wind power instructions. But we noticed that is has no video tutorial, that show a working system being built in real-time. This make a harder for the average, everyday person to build their own working solar and wind power generator, without getting stuck. Yes, the diagrams did make it easier, but it makes more sense, in this day and age to provide step-by-step video instruction.

2: The same old rehashed information

Efficient Planet seems to be the same old rehashed information. Diy energy guides are appearing all over the place these days, and this guide does not seem to be any different to rest. However, with that being said, where Efficient Planet excels is that gives it customers a number of free extras, that make it better value for money as compared to Homemade Energy or Homemade Power Plant.

Overall Rating:

Efficient Planet provides some of the most complete, and useful step-by-step instructions on making your own renewable energy and saving power at home. Yes, you will eventually build a working solar and wind power system with the plans, but it will take you a little longer than if you used the Earth4Energy guide (which has free video instruction). The free extras make it well worth the $49.97 price, so it comes in 2nd place.

Tim McDonald is an enthusiastic DIYer that has been living off the grid since June 2008. He recommends you Try Earth4Energy for FREE if you are serious about making your own solar and home wind turbine, saving bucket loads of cash on your electricity bill, and living a greener life.

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The Earth4Energy ebook claims it can help you save up to 80% on your electricity bill, and perhaps even eliminate it completely. So does it live up our expectations? Without a doubt…Yes.

Likes:

1 - Great value for money

Earth4Energy, although similarly priced to the other guides, was the most complete and comprehensive ones we read. Furthermore, if we were ever stuck at some point in our build, the quick, helpful customer support provided great advice.

2 - Quality customer support

What we like about customer support is that not only were their replies helpful, but they came really quickly. Furthermore, it is the only guide that is regularly updated with the latest information. For example, after many requests, Earth4Energy added video instruction on how to build a working home solar kit and home wind generator, without charging us any more money!

3 - Excellent solar panel plans

The solar electric system instruction were well laid out and detailed. And with help from the step-by-step videos, they were by far the easiest to follow. The estimated costs to get all the parts was spot on. Michael Harvey, the man behind Earth4Energy, claimed we could source everything for under $150. We ended up spending only $137.88. That is amazing, if you think it would of cost us thousands of dollars to get a professional home solar power system!

Another winning aspect about Earth4Energy is that is explains how you can make the home solar power system portable, and use it to power your RV. This also comes in handy for those off the grid camping trips.

What we did not like about the guide:

1 - More than one system needed for best results:

This is one of those problems we found with all the diy energy guides. Yes, it is very possible to save up to 80% on power by following these plans, but it will take you more than one system to get there. So, depending on how much power you want to make, and where you live, you will have to scale up your systems, and obvious spend more than the claimed $250 or so to see the desired results.

Verdict:

If you are really serious about making your own home wind turbine and home solar power system to start saving money, then Earth4Energy is your best option. It has the most comprehensive instructions, practical diagrams, step-by-step videos, and top quality customer service with regular, value-added, free updates. And it is no wonder it has outperformed it closet competitors - Homemade Energy and Efficient Planet - by over 500% (based on number of happy customers).

And what’s even better is that you can now get a FREE sneak peek of Earth4Energy, before deciding to make your own Home Home Solar Power and save thousands on your electricity costs.

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Over the past year a lot of diy energy guides have appeared on the internet, promising to teach even a complete technical newbie how to make their own home solar and wind power, and reduce their energy bills by up to 80%. One those guides happens to be Make Natural Power. But does it deliver what is promises? And is how does it stack up to the other guides?

The best thing about Make Natural Power is its cover. Everything beyond that was disappointing to say the least. Although it appears to have all the features of the the other guides, the information is very thin and not well-explained.

Good Aspects:

You will be able to build a solar and wind power system, but it will take you a very long time, unless you have great technical skills.

The Cons about getting the guide:

* Confusing illustrations

Not only were the diagrams for both the solar and wind power instructions boring and dull, but they were badly labeled and and not even to scale.

* Low quality home solar power system

The instructions were not easy to follow, and the illustrations did not help either. Because of this, the reader is required to figure things out on their own, resulting in a useless solar panel system, if it ever get finished.

* “Thin” maintenance information

While I eventually got my wind generator to work, it ended up breaking after 2 months. This could have been prevented if I was given correct advice on how to effectively maintain the wind turbine.

* Slow customer support

A lot of the time we had to contact customer service for assistance. But they were very slow to respond, and by the time they did reply we had either forgotten what the problem or had figured it out ourselves. On average, it will take over 5 days to get the answers you need.

Overall Rating

If you are willing to get a cheap knock-off of Earth4Energy, but for the same price, then by all means get the Make Natural Power guide. The book was terribly written, the instructions were confusing, and it was not a pleasant experience for me.

Tim McDonald recommends you rather try Earth4Energy for FREE, if you want to build a quality DIY Renewable Energy system and actually reduce your electricity bill.

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