This power then has to go through shafts and gears or belts and pulleys and an alternator to actually produce electricity, which collectively commonly have around 50% efficiency, which then means we can expect around 0.75 watts of electricity to be produced for each square foot of the windmill area, in an average 10 mph wind.

Therefore, a 10-foot diameter farm-style windmill can realistically be expected to be capable of creating about a constant 60 watts of usable electricity.

There seem to be thousands of web-sites where people describe their own unique ideas of harnessing wind power. From what I can tell, they are all nearly useless and worthless, primarily because the person who was trying to build and use such things had absolutely no education in Electrical Engineering or Mechanical Engineering, and no experience or ability in calculating any of the important things that must be known!

I sometimes read such pages for entertainment! For example, a guy who spent five years in trying to produce wind-generated electricity (1995-2000) seemed to keep trying random thoughts! He clearly spent at least $20,000 during those five years, and his descriptions seem to suggest that he may not have gotten even ONE DOLLAR'S WORTH of electricity for all his efforts!

He built a "triple-Savonius rotor" and kept building taller and taller towers to put it on! Since Savonius rotors rotate rather slowly, he decided to use a fan belt to make a car alternator spin at 20 times as fast (with a really tiny pulley). He found that it wouldn't even start! He (randomly) tried smaller and smaller pulleys, until he got it to turn. Since he was disappointed with the output, he decided to re-wire the alternator to make it create higher voltage, apparently believing there was some advantage in that! Eventually, he realized he was wasting his time and went back to standard 12-volt alternators.

 you are building a new home and would like to size a renewable energy system to power it, fill out the contact form as completely as you can.

In doing so, we will generate the best energy plan for your home, assess if there is any "FREE MONEY" in government grants and assess the allowable tax credits that close in 2012.  All fees paid in the survey go toward the purchase of your systems be it geothermal, solar, or wind.  Your assessment fee may be also tax deductable!