Make A Wind Turbine

The rising cost of energy is making more people think about off grid living every day. It is now entirely possible to disconnect from the power grid and make all of your own energy. Many people are generating their own electricity with solar panels or wind turbines and accommodate all of their power needs, if their system is correctly sized. By producing some of your own electricity, you can take at least a small step towards off grid living.

We will discuss solar power first. Even in remote or harsh places, solar panels can be a great option for supplying power. The only thing you need is some hardware and lots of sun. For the do-it-yourselfer, the best guide to building a diy solar panel is Review of GreenDIYEnergy.  Solar power systems can be big or small and can even be portable to take in your RV. Solar panels are tough, require very little maintenance and can last up to 20 years if properly cared for.

Some number of solar panels wired together are primary part of any solar power system. Solar panels in the northern hemisphere should be facing directly south for the highest power output. Some solar power systems use panels that rotate so they always point directly at the sun, though with more recent solar panels this is less important than it was with older panels. With more recent solar panels, stationary panels work quite well as long as they are pointed directly south and at the correct vertical angle.  For an article about how to build your own solar panel, check out Build Solar Panel.

Direct Current (DC) electricity is produced by solar cells and can be used to charge batteries to power any DC appliance. Charging batteries can be useful to provide power when the sun isn’t shining, like at night after the sun goes down.

If you want to provide electricity to Alternating Current (AC) appliances like you typically have around your home, you will need a power inverter. The power inverter will take power from both solar panels and batteries and convert it into AC electricity.

A wind turbine can also be used to generate the power that will enable you to begin living off grid. Modern wind turbines are fairly small and very efficient and can be mounted on a tower, a pole or in some cases even the roof of your house. One advantage of a wind turbine over solar panels is they can generate power all day and all night as well. A wind turbine can generate power as long as the wind is blowing.  For information about making a diy wind generator, check out Earth4Energy Review

You can install both a wind turbine and solar panels together. This can give the best of both worlds and the same batteries and power inverter can be used with both. At night the wind turbine can produce power as long as there is a breeze and on calm, sunny days the solar panels can take over and generate electricity.

For people wanting to live the off grid lifestyle, either of these systems can provide enough power. They will let you take your first step towards completely pulling the plug.

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