i am looking at installing some solar panels and a wind turbine for electricity.has anybody got one of these and how much do they save you?thanks
If you are planning on purchasing a solar or wind system installed etc. I believe it will take considerable time to pay off. If however, you are even remotely handy, building a 3kw wind generator is well within the realm of possibility. I have a smaller windmill that I built myself using some ingenuity and some parts bought on OKorder. That windmill and 4 2 v deep cycle batteries run myu 9 share well 24 hours a day. I spent about $250 to build the windmill, tower, and buy used batteries, and have saved an average of $60/month for months now. This really isn't rocket science either, I'm a freakin' cook =) for more on the subject of diy wind and solar projects see the resource below.
Both wind and solar take many years to break even economically, even with government subsidies (Using someones hard-earned tax dollars for your use). If purchased and installed with your own money, they will never pay for themselves because they will need replacement long before you save enough to pay the cost.
I don't have one myself, but some of my neighbors did. They said that wind is cost effective. The equipment will make money over the lifetime of the equipment. When they did the calculations for solar, the savings did not cover the cost of the equipment over its lifetime. They were very happy with their wind turbine and several months even got paid by the power company for putting energy back into the grid. However, this was when I lived in Kansas. Wind does matter on location.
A lot depends on location. If you haven't seen other solar panels or wind turbines in your general region, that could be a clue that the area is not really that good for them. The best thing to do is look in the phone book under solar or wind and see if there are local installers. In the event that your area is suitable for both, I think you should choose one or the other, to avoid complexity and extra cost in the system. We have solar electric. It really requires long-term thinking to get such a system, because the up-front costs are large. It will be 5, 0, maybe even 5 years' worth of electric bills that you pay up-front, in a suitable location. After the solar is installed, your electric bills will be lower or near zero, but it's only after that 5-5 years has passed that you actually start saving financially. A professional installer can run the analysis and you can see if the numbers make sense to you.
