Home > March, 2009
Building a wind generator is a great project for your family. Spend weekend learning about the benefits of wind power verses electricity produced at a plant and teach this to your children. Understand and verbalize the responsibility we have to our community and the environment around us. Devote the weekend to working together to build your wind powered generator. Give everyone a specific duty and allow them to take pride in their craftsmanship. This is a great way to spend some quality time as a family, learning new things and working together. The adults will save money while teaching their children valuable lessons.
Many people are turning to Wind Generators to provide power to their homes. These generators cost little to build and can be constructed in one weekend, in some cases. With a simple to understand set of plans and some positive thinking, you two can build a wind powered generated for your home that will produce free wind energy for your home for years.
For the first time builder, it is important to become familiar with the different parts of the wind powered generator and what all it entails. Familiarize yourself with the distinct parts of the generator. These parts consist of the blades, hub, body, towel and the tower for the wind generator.
Building the blades and hub are by far the most time consuming part of the entire project. Once these two parts are built, you are well on your well. The blades and hub are not difficult to build; they just take time and patience. Grab a buddy or make this a father-son project. The material you will need to build the blades and hub are easily accessible. You might even be able to obtain the blade material for free. Ask around, you may be surprised. While you are building these parts, order the motor for the wind generators.
If you order it in the beginning you will not have to wait around for it after the blades and hub are completed. The motor is the heart of the generator and is what converts the wind to energy. If you are environmentally conscious, as many of us should be, consider building the body and tail of your generator from recycled material. Recycled stainless steel, double wall chimney pipe is a great material to use as the body for the wind generator. This material can be obtained from your local chimney installer or from a dealer that sells wood stoves. Furnace dealers may have this recycled material, as well. Stainless steel is a great metal that protects the motor and internal moving parts.
Let your artistic flair shine through when designing your wind generator tail. Think of a funky theme or paint the tail a fun, bright color. You can paint is to match the color of your house or stencil your last name on it. The sky is the limit. Make it fun and pleasing to look at. Ask your children for ideas and let them participate. They will take pride in the work they accomplished and the good your wind generator is doing for the environment.
Millard Hiner
http://www.articlesbase.com/home-and-family-articles/how-to-build-a-wind-generator-as-a-family-project-734816.html
Step number one in getting started with any solar power setup in your home is to perform an energy audit. This is where you evaluate the amount of power (in kilowatts/hour or kilowatt hours) that you’ll need in any given day.
You will also need to take into account the site where your home is located. Geographical considerations such as climate, number of peak hours of sunlight per day, number of days of peak sunlight per year, and average rainfall will play a big role in how efficient a solar system you can design.
Any solar electric system will need, at the very least, the following components:
a collector (usually solar panels);
a mount (to put it on);
an inverter (to convert 12 volt DC power to 110 volt AC power);
a circuit breaker or fuse box and fuses & switches (to regulate the power transferring from the panels to your outlets and/or storage batteries);
(optional) one or more storage batteries;
(if you get a battery) a charge controller (to keep from over- or undercharging the battery and severely reducing its lifespan);
Once you’ve purchased all the elements of the solar system you’ve just designed, installation is fairly easy, though the simplicity of installing a solar power system does not mean you should necessarily do it yourself. There are numerous advantages to hiring a professional installer with training in both electrical systems and solar electrical systems, including knowing how to set everything up to code, should the building inspector ever have the need to look it over (ie. for insurance purposes).
If you find the right solar professional, they will instruct you in those parts of the installation that you are capable of and allow you to do some of the work yourself, saving you on some of your labor costs.
Even if you don’t decide to have a professional install your solar system, it would be well worth your while to consult one with your design to make sure it’s a viable design, one that’s taken all the necessary considerations into account. For example, there is a wide selection of panels, controllers, inverters, and batteries, each one manufactured with different requirements, each one not necessarily interchangeable with the other.
To further minimize the chances of incompatibilities between components in your solar system, consider purchasing all the elements of your set up from the same company and consulting with someone on their sales team that is knowledgeable in solar electric power.
In fact, many companies sell solar kits that contain all the components you would need to set your house up with solar power, with the certainty that all the components are compatible.
Whatever you decide, you don’t have to break the bank to try and supplant your entire power grid reliance with solar power right away and all at once. If you’re interested in availing yourself and your household of the multifold benefits of solar power, start small. Get yourself a single solar panel and see how well that works for you. When you’re ready, add on more panels, batteries, etc., one at a time as you can afford it and as your needs evolve.
Michelle Bery
http://www.articlesbase.com/home-improvement-articles/how-to-get-started-with-your-own-home-solar-electric-system-125012.html
Everyone likes to feel that they have got a bargain when they buy something new, particularly if it’s something expensive like a fridge or washing machine. One tried and tested method is to shop around, and the Internet has taken a lot of the hassle out of this. You can now compare prices at several different retailers from the comfort of your own home. As well as specialist on-line retailers of domestic appliances, most high-street retailers now have an Internet site where you can check their prices.
However, when they are buying a fridge or washing machine, most people only factor in the up-front cost, and don’t think about the cost of the electricity that it takes to run the appliance over its lifetime. And this can add up to a surprisingly large amount. In fact, sometimes the savings from an energy-efficient fridge or other appliance are so great, they will almost cover the cost of buying the appliance in the first place! So when it comes to replacing appliances, you can actually save the most money by buying an energy efficient model.
Take fridges and freezers, which are the hardest working appliance in your home. They are on all day, every day of the year. They can account for a quarter of your electricity bill. If your fridge or freezer isn’t energy efficient, you could be paying through the nose. New energy saving fridge freezers use two thirds less energy than other models and can save you up to £45 a year on your bills. So when buying a fridge freezer, you should look for the most energy-efficient.
Dishwashers are now thought to have about the same environmental impact as washing up by hand. They use electricity, but use less water and water heating. The balance is tipped in the dishwasher’s favour if you use an energy saving dishwasher. To run a cycle on an inefficient appliance costs around 16p but to run the same cycle on an energy saving machine will cost you only 9p. A difference of 7p per wash. Energy saving dishwashers use 40 per cent less energy which should equate to around £20 off the average electricity bill each year.
The average washing machine does around 1 wash every weekday, and wastes a very large amount of energy. Buy an energy saving washing machine and you can use a fraction of the energy of old energy-hungry models. Again this can equate to a saving of around £20 from your electricity bill. The same applies to a tumble dryer, where the most energy efficient models will save you around £15 per year over standard models.
So all in all you can save around £100 a year on your electricity bills if you buy the most energy efficient appliances. Given that they last around 10 years, this will add up to around £1,000. Now that is some saving!
But how do you know which appliances are most efficient? Well, each model of appliance now receives a rating from the European Union for its energy efficiency. The EU energy label rates products from A++ (the most efficient/least energy used), down to G (the least efficient/most energy used). By law, the label must be shown on all refrigeration and laundry appliances, dishwashers, electric ovens and lightbulb packaging. In the UK you can also recognise the most efficient appliances because they are approved by the Energy Saving Trust, and have an ‘Energy Saving Recommended logo’. Your on-line retailer should give you this information when you browse available models. If they don’t, then try another one that does; there’s plenty of choice.
Alex Perry
http://www.articlesbase.com/home-and-family-articles/how-to-save-big-money-on-fridges-dishwashers-washing-machines-tumble-dryers-136421.html
I'm trying to compare the cost of electricity produced by geothermal processes to "normal" processes. Geothermal is anywhere from 2.5-10 cents per kWh. I'd like to know what the average cost is for gas, coal and oil fired electric power plants by kWh.
nuclear is cheapest but it has foolishly fallen into disfavor
coal is next approx 80% of US power is coal
What is a good web site to check out for solar power for a home. I'm thinking about having solar power added to my water heater and to my furnace to cut down on gas usage. Maybe eventually to my lighting circuits. I want to have an idea of what the costs are and what the savings will be.
Good luck getting off the grid.
http://www.homepower.com/
Or at least supply 25-50% of my power needs by some renewable source…To me, affordable is $50K or less…and I lean toward the less.
I just learned there are companies that rent solar panels so you don't have to buy them outright.
I'll put a couple of links for you below.
Put them on power strips- and just turn off the strip it's self. an "off" strip does not draw power.
Don't use your dryer. (My clothes go over the side of my fence.. unless it's elastic based,, those still go in the dryer)
Boil water to make your home seem warmer. Extra water vapor helps you feel the heat more.
Put up heavy curtains and do not allow sunlight in during the daytime (keeps the house cooler)
Sitting at the back inside one of Essen's dual mode duobuses on route 145 on a mixed mode journey involving both diesel and electric traction. Note how although when in electric trolleybus mode it is far from silent the motor and transmission noises are considerably more agreeable than the deafening roar of the diesel engine. Also note how when not moving in electric mode there is virtually no noise – unlike when stationary in diesel mode when it is still consuming fuel and polluting both …
Duration : 0:5:50
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http://EnergyForEarth.net – "Very Cheap Solar Panels For Home" SOLAR PANELS•Home & RV Solar Panel Systems•We know solar panels! Solar panels and solar panel system components including photovoltaic grid-tie, off-grid, … at MrSolar.com, we know solar panels! Solar Panels Cheap… …
Duration : 0:2:28
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just a quick video of solar and wind turbines …
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