The initial cost of a small wind turbine that will power an average home runs from $40,000 to $50,000, which is a significant investment. Why then do homeowners in 47 states have these windmills installed on towers on their property? For most of them, conventional electrical costs of over ten cents per kilowatt and plans to stay in their home long-term make it likely that they’ll more than pay for their windmill. They may very well save money over the monthly cost from their power company.Although there are drawbacks to home windmills, there are many benefits and the drawbacks can be overcome with some careful planning and research. The most important consideration, as you may imagine, is the average wind speed in your area. If there isn’t a steady source of wind, a windmill is not a good investment. Better to opt for solar or geothermal. If there is a steady wind, then the next consideration is probably the tall tower that you have to either erect yourself or have built for the wind turbine.

Some homeowners feel capable of doing this, especially if they purchase kits that allow you to build the tower in sections and then tilt it to put it up. Most, however, elect to hire qualified builders to put up the tower, and perhaps the turbine also. Proper installation will insure that your turbine is facing in the right direction and safely and securely fastened to the tower. At http://www.housingzone.com/probuilder/article/CA6406833.html there are recommendations for installing a home wind generator and links to wind power resources. And for further information, including plans, visit http://www.awea.org/smallwind.

But before you even unpack the turbine, you should make sure that its site is far enough from your dwelling to eliminate the noise issue. At least 160 feet is recommended. This is the one complaint that crops up again and again from homeowners who installed their unit on their garage roof or their home’s roof. Most small wind powered turbines are about as loud as the average clothes washer. If you take that into consideration when you are choosing a site for your generator, you’ll save yourself a lot of problems down the road.

Most homeowners opt to have their generator tied into their local utility’s line so that they can sell their excess electricity. This can help offset the cost of the generator over the years. And since the power is being generated, why not profit from it rather than wasting it? Other homeowners, including those who live too far away from power lines, forego tying into the power grid and just power their house and outbuildings with their wind powered generator. There are many places all over the world, even in developed countries, where running a line from the nearest pole to a homeowner’s dwelling would be cost-prohibitive.

If you’re going to sell your excess electricity, it’s important that you meet with your power company’s representatives and arrange for them to be on site when the generator is connected to the grid. Of course, it’s important also that you’re aware of and follow all local ordinances. A trip to your town building inspector or the appropriate official is imperative. And because of the height of the tower, home windmill installations are more suited to rural locations where landowners have enough acreage to isolate their unit from neighbors’ views.

The last point to consider is maintenance. It’s really important to purchase a tower unit that can be laid down by crane in the event that the windmill needs repair or maintenance. Of course, when repairs are made or the unit undergoes maintenance, it’s very important that the electricity is disconnected. Industry insiders predict that smaller, more compact wind powered generators will supplant the tall towers and propeller-type windmills, and that probably will happen in the future. As of now though, throughout the world, the tall towers and whirly-bird generators still dot the landscape, powering lights and appliances for satisfied homeowners.

Wind turbines come in all sizes from small windmills designed to power fountains and garden lights to larger home wind turbines up to giant turbines whose blade area covers the space of 2 soccer fields. The largest turbines are usually grouped into wind farms and more and more often are used in offshore installations, especially in Europe where wind power generation is a larger part of total power generation than it is anywhere else in the world. Germany and Spain lead the world in percentage of wind power to conventional power but China, the US, Canada and France are experiencing very rapid growth which makes them major players in wind power also.The largest wind turbine in the world is currently the REPower 5M. According to RE Power’s web site at http://www.repower5m.com/index_flash_uk.htm the 5M has a rated output of 5 megawatts, a rotor diameter of 126 meters, and a hub height of around 90 meters at sea and 120 meters on land. This giant wind turbine is being used to power several wind farm projects including a demonstration project off the coast of Scotland.

To reduce weight, the three rotor blades are made from an innovative glass/carbon fiber hybrid fabric that is held together by synthetic resins. To further reduce weight, the 5M’s die cast rotor shaft is hollow.

Another innovation is a gearbox that may be repaired or removed without having to take apart the rotor. This could mean a significant saving in repair cost and downtime. To deal with one of the most persistent problems with any wind turbine system, wind turbulence, the nacelle, which also holds the inverter and transformer for the 5M, has 8 geared motors for tracking the wind. To keep the nacelle facing into the wind, the 5M is equipped with eight hydraulic brake calipers. As a backup, there are also electromagnetic disc brakes. This greatly minimizes problems with turbulence-related damage.

The 5M has many options: a helicopter platform for offshore sites and elevators to lift goods and workers to the top of the tower. The towers themselves may be made from tubular steel, concrete or a hybrid of both steel and concrete. Every tower is equipped with communication capacity and, of course, cables for energy transmission.

Safety is a priority with the 5M both for workers and the installation itself. Automatic high capacity fire extinguishers are programmed to operate when fire is detected and lightning protection - a must in the stormy offshore environment - is built in. All safety systems have backups built into the design. This means that the 5M has optimum power production with few offline instances.

No doubt, other giant wind turbines will come on line within the near future, especially since several companies, including Siemens and GE have announced wind power projects. At http://www.powergeneration.siemens.com/press/press-releases/search.htm Siemens has information about projects they’ve recently been awarded in Denmark and Spain.

As technology improves wind turbine design and technology, and more countries turn to wind to power their homes and factories, giant wind turbines will continue to play a big part in the wind power market. Siting them offshore ameliorates the problems of aesthetics, especially if they are out of sight of land.

Environmental concerns, while still a factor, are not as relevant. While the cables emit electromagnetic waves which are a problem for sharks and rays, technology has yielded designs that help to overcome this. The impact on the seabed is taken into consideration and every effort is made to make it as minimal as possible. Further innovations will emerge as designers find new ways to make the giant wind turbines as environmentally friendly as possible. When everything is taken into consideration, including how much pollution and environmental damage the wind farms prevent by replacing conventional power generating technologies such as coal and gas, it seems apparent that giant wind turbines are a reasonable alternative energy source.

The basis of wind power is both simple and complex. For thousands of years, humans have harnessed the wind to grind their grain, sail their boats and pump water. The windmill was once a common site on farms and in the countryside all over the US and Europe. The windmill is national icon for the Netherlands, where it was used to pump water from farmland reclaimed from the sea. But starting with the Industrial Revolution, fossil fuel power plants and the electricity they produced replaced windmills and wind pumps.It wasn’t until the threat of global warming and a more eco-conscious public that wind power became more than an oddity pursued by backyard tinkerers and eccentric inventors. The way wind power works is simple. The blades catch the wind, which turns them and the hub they’re attached to. The hub turns a gearshaft which turns inside a generator thus producing electricity. How much electricity depends on both the size of the blades and the speed of the wind. The cost of operating wind power generators is slightly higher than or similar to conventional technologies, although it can be cheaper depending on the country.

Wind power while not totally benign, has advantages over the technologies in use now to produce electricity. Opponents of wind power often cite the toll it takes on birds and bats. But according to http://www.world-wire.com/news/0612040002.html even in Denmark, where over 10% of electricity production is generated by wind turbines, power lines kill many more birds. This issue is also being addressed by designers and has been all but eliminated in the new vertical axis and aeroturbine windmills. And wind power has much less of an effect on other wildlife and may even be beneficial.

When compared to coal and other fossil fuels, which make up 70% of US electricity generation, wind power emits no mercury, sulfur dioxide, acid rain, nitrogen oxide, or greenhouse gases. Rivers don’t have to be dammed for wind power and it produces no nuclear waste like nuclear power plants do. Wind power will never be depleted like fossil fuels and nuclear energy. It’s free for the taking, like solar power, although the equipment needed to convert wind to electric is still expensive. Industry experts expect that to change as wind power becomes more pervasive and accepted around the world.

Large installations of windmills, often called wind farms, generate enough electricity to power hundreds of houses. However they also generate the most controversy, because of noise, aesthetic impact and the threat to birds and bats. As mentioned earlier, designers are addressing these problems and new technologies are making wind power safer, quieter and less damaging to avian populations. Vertical axis turbines, pose almost no danger to birds, produce almost no noise or vibration and may be installed in urban areas. At http://www.plentymag.com Plenty Magazine reports that they are being tested in Chicago and other cities, where the preliminary reports are very favorable. There are even small home wind turbines which can be installed on roofs. These generate power for the household without linking to the power grid.

Experts believe that up to 20% of US electrical power generation could be accomplished with wind power. Canada, Australia and European countries have already implemented their own far reaching programs to replace a percentage of their conventional power plants with wind power. As the self-proclaimed windiest country in Europe, England is particularly well-suited to wind power and has been aggressively pursuing installations of wind farms for years. China has the first Mag-Lev wind power installation and has plans for future large-scale wind power generating facilities.

The several-hundred-billion dollar industry of power production through wind turbines is flourishing and promises to be even stronger in future. What with carbon offsetting and governments coming on board the global warming initiatives, wind power can only grow as the price per kw falls closer to and even lower than a kw produced by coal or gas.

Before terrorists were the eminent threat, before Al Gore started his global warming campaign and before the Y2K scare sent the world into a panic, there was the talk of deforestation. We’ve all seen the people who advocate its cause. We call them tree huggers, and sometimes worse. What most people don’t know is; trees are our life line. They produce the oxygen which we breathe. And without the sufficient amount of trees to produce this oxygen, we die. Trees also help control our climate and are the life-blood of developing countries economies. It’s hard work to get people aboard the stop-deforestation train. Most think that it’s only causing animals to lose their natural habitat, so they couldn’t care less.

Deforestation isn’t a problem that can be completely prevented. Some of the causes of this are not manmade. Acid rain and wildfire causes many forests to dwindle in size. Though, loggers and tree removal for urban developments are also quickly killing our forestlands. Slash-and-burn techniques are a major concern, also. This occurs when people cut down the trees and then burn them to make agriculture or pastures for their livestock.

Over the past decade, deforestation has had significant effects on the environment. The destruction or removal of forest cover has resulted in a degraded environment which reduces biodiversity. The massive deforestation taking place in many countries is resulting in climate change and reshaping the geographic layout. Deforestation affects the amount of water in the groundwater and soil, which affects the amount of water in the Earth’s atmosphere. Valuable forest is being lost which fosters medicinal conservation and the recharge of aquifers. It can also cause genetic variations which effect crop resistance.

The dwindling forest lessens the landscape’s capacity to retain and transport precipitation. Instead of trapping the water and feeding it to a groundwater system, the water quickly runs off the surface at much higher speeds than it would underground. This quick transportation of water can lead to flash flooding or more localized floods. Deforestation also causes decreased evapotranspiration, which lessens atmospheric moisture and effects precipitation levels downwind from the deforested area. Water is not recycled to downwind forests; instead, it is lost in the runoff and returns directly to the ocean.

Along with environmental and geographical impact, there is also economic impact from deforestation. The fast manor in which people in developing countries are tearing down their forests without reforestation is causing a loss in long-term income. Forests are being ripped apart for the heating and housing needs of almost three billion people. The short-term gain seems to outweigh the long-term effects. Deforestation without reforestation will eventually leave places like West Africa and Southeast Asia without a heat source, and their economy will be shattered. Basically, people are taking trees, but not putting any back.

Deforestation is a problem which affects a lot of countries around the world. American’s don’t seem to put much emphasis on it. But, eventually, it will be an overwhelming cause for concern for our entire planet. The people in West Africa and Southeast Asia are already starting to see the adverse effects. It won’t be long before the rest of the world needs to help correct this problem.

There are plenty of things you can do at home to save on energy. There is really no effort involved at all, just some basic memory skills and the will to make the change. Saving energy is very cost efficient and the little things you can do all add up and equal a big change. Ten ways you can save on energy at home without even trying: 

1. Lighting
   We’ve all heard it before, “Turn that light off when you leave the room!” Just remember to do so can save big bucks per year. Open more shades and blinds in your home during the day. If you like to read or need to for a job, set up in a lighter colored room where light is reflected off walls. Make sure your lamps aren’t around thermostats. It can confuse them to cut off during the winter, and make your air conditioner come on. Dusting your lights will increase output, if you haven’t dusted them regularly; you’ll notice and change and can switch to a lower wattage bulb. If your light fixture has multiple sockets, only hook up one bulb.

2. Laundry
   Always wash your clothes in cold water. Using hot water forces your water heater to cut on. By properly treating your clothes before washed, you can save a lot of money per year by having that heater stay off. If you’re using a dryer, don’t over dry your clothes. It takes a lot of energy to power clothes dryers, leaving your clothes in just 5 minutes longer than needed can really add up over time. And if it’s not raining out, forget the dryer all together. Get out there and hang your clothes on the line if you can.

3. Washing dishes
   If you have a dishwasher, don’t pre-rinse your dishes. Just scrape your plate off. Pre-rinsing dishes wastes over 20 gallons of water per day. The dish detergent if formulated to get your dishes clean. Let the machine handle it.

4. Computers
   Don’t leave your computer and the monitor on, keep them in sleep mode. Doing so only uses 20% of the power. This adds up over the course of a year.

5. Heating
   Inside of an insulated house, you’re not going to freeze to death. You can cut the heat down while you sleep or are out of the house. This slight decrease in energy output can save up to 30% of your heating costs per year.

6. Air conditioning
   This is the same as the heating. Air conditioners use up a lot of energy. When you’re sleeping, you can have them turned off completely and open a window, or at least turn them down quite a bit.

7. Alternate heating and cooling
   Fans or open windows can help to cool your home on hot days. The fresh air may even make you feel better on top of saving money per year. Opening the shades or blinds lets the sunlight in, the Sun is a powerful thing, it can help heat your home.

8. Oven vs. the microwave
   If you invest in some good microwave-safe dishes and containers, you can save a nice chunk of change per year. The microwave only uses 20% of the power that an oven does. Also, using your oven in the winter will help to heat your house. But using your oven in the summer will make your air conditioner have to work harder.

9. Refrigeration
   Make sure you have a proper seal when you close your fridge or freezer door. Also, brush off the coils of your refrigerator. By doing this, the motor doesn’t have to run as long or as often.

10. Entertainment
    Try some family time for a few hours a night. Playing games and just having conversation without the TV, radio, computers, phones (which need constant charging) can save you considerable money per month. Try reading a book sometimes. There’s nothing wrong with a little peace and quiet.