The Patio Expert Pages

Electricity bills have been constantly rising for a long time but it has now reached the stage where power is now a major factor in the household budget. The rising cost of electricity combined with the environmental problems created by burning fossil fuels, is driving more people to think green and look at the possibility of creating their own renewable power source.

Making your own solar panels or a wind generator is very tempting but how realistic is it? Can a home made solar panel or DIY wind turbine really result in a noticeable difference to a typical household power bill? Or are they just wishful thinking and marketing hype?

There are many variables that affect the answers to these questions. The answer will depend on where you live and the extent that you wish to go with your DIY power station.

One of the main factors that impacts the viability of home made solar panels will be the exposure that your house has to the sun. It is obvious that a hut deep in the heart of a forest is not going to get much benefit from a solar panel! So check the travel of the sun over your house, how many hours of direct sun does your house get? The encouraging news is that most houses should not have any trouble in collecting enough sunlight to create electricity from a home made solar panel.

The same logic is true when thinking about a DIY wind generator; you will need wind to turn it! In most places the wind cannot be trusted as the only source of power--it simply fills in the gaps left by solar power quite nicely. Luckily when the sun stops shining the wind normally blows.

The amount of power that can be created from a DIY power station will be a product of the size and type of the devices being used.

Solar panels which produce electricity are also known as 'photovoltaic cells' or 'solar pv modules' The amount of electricity that you can expect to extract from a solar panel is calculated by surface size and weight and typically will lie between 5 and 50 watts, although multiple cells can be simply linked together. Any excess electricity that is generated can be stored in batteries for release at a later time.

The amount of electricity that comes from a home built wind generator is obtained from the square of the blade diameter (double the diameter and you get 4 times the power) and the cube of the wind speed (double the wind speed and you get 8 times the power). Although you can't choose the wind speed, you can choose the blade diameter. Typical home wind turbines will have a diameter of around 6-8 feet and a typical home power system would be capable of outputting 1 - 6 kilowatts with a wind speed of about 6-10miles per hour.

A home power power station consisting of a home made wind turbine and solar panel is not only possible but very practical. With a bit of investigation it is possible to find plans for building DIY wind turbines and solar panels and these do not require any great degree of skill or unusual tools. In fact, all of the components are readily obtained from local sources and the whole production process shouldn't take more than a couple of weekends.

Is it possible for a DIY home power station save you money, yes it certainly can. Either you can power electric items in your house directly from the generated renewable electricity, or if you are able to link your home built power system to the power grid then you can sell your electricity to your power company.

Home generation of electricity is not only a reality; it is an easy way to reduce your power bills. Who knows, maybe all houses will have a renewable energy source in the future.

Visit www.my-ecopower.com and check out the plans that I used to construct my own low cost, easy to build domestic power station.