Sat 17 Oct 2009
History proves that wind can be a reliable partner in many applications. Early uses for wind power includes moving ships and boats through the water by sails. On land, wind power was harnessed by many different types of windmills – vertical shaft, horizontal shaft, solid and cloth blades, etc. Windmills were mostly used for grist mills (for grinding grain into flour) and moving water (from wells to the ground, and from streams). That’s not bad when you consider how much you can save in the long run with just a $200 investment. This is also a great project to involve the kids and teach them the value of earth conservation. You will also be contributing to the community in a positive way. Instead of just talking about global warming, you are actually doing something about it. There are two options to tackle this project. You could search the Internet on various methods to build your own home renewable energy system. Some of the disadvantages are that it is not an easy task to mount vertical axis turbines onto towers, because of this they normally have to operate slower and get the turbulent air flow close to the ground, which results in a less efficient energy extraction. They only produce roughly 50% of the energy that a horizontal wind generator produces. They also have to be installed on a flat piece of land nothing steep and although steepness of an area might be a problem for a vertical wind generator, that is not a problem for a horizontal wind power generator. However, like I said before it is not all negative there are also many advantages. It is expensive to own one at first but in the long run, it will cost you nothing. When wind turbines are powered with solar panels, the two are powerful force in generating cheap energy.
