• Can you really build a usable homemade wind turbine for $200?
• How much power will it produce?
• What are some engineering problems you will encounter?

If your property will support a homemade wind turbine then you really need to start narrowing in your focus on making one. You see even if it’s a small unit that puts out very little actual power, the experience you will gain from making it you can put to use further down the road. Hey! The cost of gas and electricity is only going up.

Now perhaps you may have already noticed that DIY articles on how to build your own homemade wind turbine are pretty much a dime a dozen online. It seems that just about everyone wants to hold themselves out as an expert these days but I see just glaring problem and that is that they all seem to make it all look just a bit “too easy”.

For instance, the first thing you need to be aware of is that it takes a “good amount” of steady wind to power a homemade wind turbine and a good “breeze” just won’t cut it. As an example, perhaps you may have noticed that commercial wind-farms are located in high wind areas and even now offshore.

Another thing to take into consideration that the vast majority of DIY wind turbine information products fail to mention is that water can ruin your homemade wind turbine real quickly. So what this means, is that if you live in a “wet climate area”, that’s just one more thing that’s not in your favor.

Also if you’ve seen any of the articles that proclaim to show you how to build a homemade wind turbine for $200 or less, don’t believe it. For one thing good motors that will function as generators (if you want to use a motor) are getting harder to find and then there’s the problem of your propeller.

Now if you have seen any of the articles that explain how to cut propeller blades out of a hunk of plastic pipe do keep in mind that propellers made this way are highly inefficient. Consider looking online for an actual low cost wind propeller that will make full use of the wind you have available.

A good quality propeller that’s designed and built for powering a wind generator will deliver maximum performance and it’s that extra level of performance that can make the difference between a homemade wind turbine that actually makes electricity for you on low wind speed days.

At the same time keep in mind that the larger your propeller the greater the amount of stress on your support structure. Now a small propeller spinning like a “bat outa hell” is really no problem but once you move to a larger propeller, vibration, and stress do become an issue.

Perhaps you may have driven past a commercial wind farm and wondered to yourself why the huge propellers on the generators seem to be turning so slowly. Well now you know why they use gears to spin the generator at a high RPM while the larger blades spin at safe low speed.

Still yet another item to address, is the tower that your homemade wind turbine is going to be mounted on. Now if you plan on building a small light generator to simply to have some fun with then you can easily get by with the flimsy tower made from water pipe and guy-wires that you may have already seen in the DIY articles online.

Something like that will work great for powering a couple of lights or a small laptop but if you plan on building a larger scale unit to provide a usable amount of power for your home, you’ll need something different. You’ll for sure need a taller, more heavy duty tower.

There are some great information products online that deal strictly with buying, and building towers for a homemade wind turbine and the monetary figure that most of them hold out, is that 50% of your total cost will be for your tower alone. Even so this isn’t chiseled in stone.

For instance I read a fantastic article on the topic that showed pictures and explained how a group of people cut a tall pine tree to fashion a tower out of in the forest area that they were working in. A highly effective solution, using what they had at hand.

The Bottom Line on Building a Homemade Wind Turbine

• A $200 unit spinning a motor that’s small enough to fit in the palm of your hand is going to generate minimal power.

• Electrical components exposed to open weather in a wet climate will quickly deteriorate.

• A large well designed and balanced propeller is needed to drive a generator capable of producing a sizable quantity of power, but it must be geared down to prevent vibration problems.

• A homemade wind turbine large enough to produce a usable amount of electricity requires a tall, secure, well built tower.

• What renewable energy jobs are opening the fastest?

• What can you do to position yourself at the front of the line?

Rarely if ever has a business genre received the level of exposure that renewable energy jobs have in recent years. Then again, there just has never been an industry that is poised to have the overall effect on entire societies, and economies in the way that renewable energy is today.

Current estimates have the renewable energy business sector on track to add tens of thousands of new alternative energy jobs in the UK, U.S., and Canada in the coming years. Even new job titles that in many cases most people have never even heard of before. Well paying renewable energy jobs that will be here to stay.

So no matter if you are a recent graduate on the lookout for a lucrative career opportunity, or someone who is motivated by a noble desire to join in and take a place in the greater ecological movement, there is work for you.

Right now wind energy is experiencing the fastest growth of any renewable energy jobs sector on the planet. In fact the U.S. has seen development of this energy source increase some 21% since 2007. So what about future growth in this exciting new arena?

Would you believe that it’s projected that by 2030 wind energy will account for a full 20% of all the energy produced in the United States? For the UK the prospects appear even brighter, due to more proactive government support measures for wind power.

The nice thing about this business genre, is that it requires renewable energy jobs to build the wind farms, and than there are alternative energy jobs that relate to the ongoing maintenance of the machinery, and infrastructure. So the bottom line is that wind energy jobs are here to stay, once the farms are established.

Now if your local utility company owns a wind farm in your area, chances are that the job of maintaining it is contracted out to a firm that isn’t in your area. In fact the truth is that most wind energy jobs that relate to wind farm maintenance require that you travel.

The good news though is that a high percentage of these types of renewable energy jobs don’t require an advanced college degree. Rather, the vast majority of workers tend to be technicians who have undergone some form of specialized training, or have work experience in fields like electronics, fiberglass repair, or mechanics.

Then there are offshore wind farms, and don’t forget that offshore work always pays more money. In fact if offshore wind farm work is anything like offshore oil platform work, you end up getting paid 24 hours a day, and that even includes the time that you’re sleeping.

So then what are some of the steps that you can take to get yourself pointed in direction of one of these renewable energy jobs? Yes they are available now, but due to the lagging economy, and the fact that the industry as a whole has yet to take off, you can expect to encounter some level of competition.

In the mean time one of your best options for building your resume’ is in the offshore oil industry. Sound crazy? Well then keep on reading because by the time you’re through, you’ll understand why getting a job on an oil platform may be your best step towards renewable energy jobs.

First of all, you need to discover if you’re really cut out for a job that has you isolated for days on end, working up high in dangerous conditions. Now wouldn’t it be a shame to go through some type of extensive training, only to find out that wind energy jobs on isolated wind farms were intolerable?

In fact for many people these types of jobs are, and they end up quitting within their first year which brings us to the second reason. That is that entry level offshore jobs in the oil industry are easy to find, and land. In short, if you’re healthy, able bodied, and can pass a drug test, there’s someone looking for you right now.

Thirdly, you don’t need advanced training for offshore platform work. They’ll start you off on rudimentary tasks right out of high school if that’s your case then work you up, and even pay for advanced career training in areas like mechanics, electronics, and hydraulics.

Lastly, your odds of landing one of the wind farm related renewable energy jobs are always better if you’re already employed, and what better place to be employed than in the energy industry. When a prospective employer sees that you’re working on an offshore platform, they’ll know that you have what it takes for wind energy jobs on a secluded wind farm.

• How feasible is it?

• Can a wind turbine generate the level of power you need?

• What about costs?

There are two undeniable benefits to building a wind turbine, and the first one is the wind is powerful stuff. Particularly if your home is located in a high wind area, you have ready access to a constant source of some “real energy” that can be converted to electricity.

The second glaring benefit of building a wind turbine, is that wind energy doesn’t stop when the sun goes down. In fact if you take a moment to think about it, nights and cloudy days tend to be times with the wind kicks up. Solar panels work great when the sun is out, but as soon as it sets they shut down.

So Let’s Go Through the Pros and Cons of Building a Wind Turbine

Now the first big benefit weighing in on your side is that the concepts and technologies behind building a wind turbine are pretty basic. In fact if you stop to consider it, people were building working windmills out of wood, and cloth with basic hand tools hundreds of years ago.

In simple terms, what it all boils down to is a propeller attached to a generator that’s sitting up on top of a long pole. At least that’s the most basic concept because of course building a wind turbine today for electricity generation does get far more complex than that.

Another big upside of building a wind turbine, is wind power  has far greater potential if you’re looking for a system you can sell power back to the grid with. Solar systems are just too costly, and there just isn’t the room for the level of innovation that you have with a wind turbine power generation system.

With a solar system you’ll always be limited by the cost of the panels that really only produce around 30% more electricity over their lifetime, compared to simply paying for the power. Then you have to consider that most utility companies only pay a wholesale price for the power you send them.

Finally the all time biggest upside of building  a wind turbine, is that you can do it with used components that that are relatively cheap to buy. The Internet is brimming with stories and testimonials that were writin by tinkerers who did just that.

So now for the downsides of building a wind turbine to generate electricity, and as much as I hate to burst your bubble at this point, there is a good handful of them. The first one is that if you lack the means to fabricate your own system, they tend to be expensive to buy.

Yes there are smaller units that you can pick up for under $2000, but wind to electricity systems this size just won’t produce the amount of power you’ll most likely need. Remember that they also have to be installed, and just like a solar system, they do have a lifespan that has to be factored into the financial equation.

Of course there are always used turbines but keep in mind that being that they’re made up of moving parts that are stuck up in the wind and rain, taking the used route does bring with it a certain element of risk. Remember that you’re looking for solutions, not problems.

Another big downside of building a wind turbine is that you need the tools, the skills, and the facility build it in. Keep in mind that you not only have to build the turbine, but you also have to fabricate, and raise the tower, and most experts will tell you that the tower is 50% of your total cost.

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