After some rough times over the last year I'm just starting to get ahead, the stabilizing of fuel costs has helped. I don't want to ever be that vulnerable again to the greed of the oil companies, so I've decided to build my own wind turbine.
I did some research and I've found some interesting information on wind power and turbines.
First of all, the technology now is advanced enough so that even a small home sized turbine can generate enough energy to make it worthwhile to install one.
They are small enough to fit in a backyard or up on a roof and while one turbine won't supply enough electricity to run your household it can supply enough to allow you to save around 80% on your utility bills.
Buying a turbine isn't the best option since the price is rather high and it will take longer to save enough on your bills to get that money back.
It is easy to build your own and it will only cost about $200. You don't need any special skills or tools and all the parts can be found in any hardware store.
For those who build their own turbine they often recoup their investment in just a few months. If they bought theirs it would take several years, on average.
One turbine will generate about 5 times the electricity as one solar panel. Wind turbines can run day or night (as long as there is wind) whereas solar panels will only produce electricity during day light hours (as long as it's sunny).
After the research I've done I have come to the conclusion that taking the time to build my own wind turbine just makes sense. It'll be nice knowing that I have some control over my utility costs from now on.