Using Home Solar Panels and Home Wind Turbines as Alternative Sources of Energy

While home solar panels can reduce your power bills, you may want to think of going off the grid by using another alternative source of energy that combines with your solar power. A home wind turbine can be a great way to add wind and sun together to make your power bills lower and be less dependent on the grid. By combining the two alternative energy sources you will use less electricity and, in the long run, be saving the planet by reducing greenhouse gases that are produced by fossil fuel energy producers.

A home wind turbine is a generator that is hooked to a fan that is turned by the wind. When the fan turns, the turbine creates electricity which is then converted and moved into your home. Combined with solar power systems, which collect the power from the sun and convert it into electricity, you can use this to reduce your need for outside power sources. The negative thing about either system is on a day without wind or a day without sunlight. On those days you would have to go back to relying on either the battery power that was saved during the days with sun and wind or you would have to rely on the power grid.

In the United States, the best places for solar and wind power are in the Great Plains area. States like Colorado, Wyoming, Nevada, Nebraska, and Kansas have a high wind factor but also receive lots of sun. You can place your wind turbine in the back of your yard or in an area on your property that receives plenty of wind. They should not be placed next to a tree or building, but somewhere a little bit away from these types of structures so that the wind can hit the turbine at full force.

You would want a rotating coupling on your home wind turbine so that as the wind changes directions, so will the propellers that generate the electricity. The home solar panels should be placed in an area that will get the most sun. Your house may be shaded with trees or other buildings, but there will probably be one spot in your yard or on your property that will allow for maximum sun exposure.

You can see that this is a great way to bring down your power bills and your reliance on the power grid, except for those cloudy or windless days when you will have to rely on the power grid system. The long, winter storms can cover your solar cells, while the cloudy skies will not allow the solar energy to reach the cells as they would on a bright, sunny day. The wind could cease for two to three days and, again, you would be forced to go back to the power grid. The only way to avoid this problem is to have a full set of power collectors in which you could switch from the energy source to the power collectors and stay off the power grid for a little longer.

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Useful information home wind turbine:
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Useful information home solar power systems:
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