Winds of Change: Tapping Green Energy Around the Houses

From the time when rural areas depended on distant substations and miles-long power lines, the tapping of green energy around the houses is now only a matter of innovation. In fact, all you need is an old dynamo, some PVC pipes, wires and a few other pieces of hardware. From these materials alone, you can produce enough power for all your essential household appliances – through the use of wind power.

          Ancient people have used wind power to steer the sails in their seafaring vessels and to grind their grain in windmills. Now, with the advent of modern technology, wind power usage has been shifted to bringing green energy around the houses of people. At the end of 2009, wind power supplied about 1.3% of the world’s energy usage, a total capacity of around 194,400 MW. Generally, wind power has a high capital cost (when we talk of wind farms), and the risk of structural and resulting physical damage is high. However, in areas where there are strong winds, these can provide a cheap alternative over traditional diesel-powered generators. All it takes is a generator, turbines (which can be cut out of PVC pipes), a mounting system to keep the turbines facing the wind, a tower, and batteries for storage. These home-made structures can generate around 14V DC, which can be converted to 120V AC.

          The 2009 figure of wind power capacity shows a 31% increase over the previous year. This figure supports not only the increasing popularity of renewable energy resources, but of wind power in particular. As of 2008, wind power costs from 5 to 14 cents per kilowatt hour. Of course, treated as a domestic power source to bring green energy around the houses of people, these costs depend upon the owner of the structure. Wind Power, Home Wind Turbines