Simple Instructions To Build A Windmill For Everyday Use
June 28, 2009 by Contributor
Filed under House and Home, Wind
With oil prices moving higher and higher, power costs tend to follow the same trend. Given that our daily life relies very much on the consumption of electricity, getting your power from alternative sources is an attractive option.
The sun, water, and even wind are viable sources of energy. What’s more, they are renewable sources of energy as they are continuously present in our environment. More and more people now want to set-up their own windmill at their homes. With the many instructions to build a windmill available out there, it is up to you to find the one that is easy to understand.
Here are some helpful instructions to build a windmill:
Basically, there are several distinct types of windmills, based on the direction their blades spin:
1. The Horizontal upwind, where the wind hits the blade before the tower and the shaft stands horizontally;
2. The Horizontal downwind where the wind hits the tower prior to the blade; and
3. The Vertical Axis, mounted on short towers and its blades are pointing upwards.
Essentially, a windmill has four componants that must be given extra attention:
- base
- tower
- blades
- nacelle
In constructing this structure, the main objective is to maximize the conversion of the wind’s energy into electricity. Therefore, it should be tall enough to take advantage of the wind’s action in obstructed terrains – an average tower usually stands at 5 feet.
The base must be strong and heavy compared with other parts, to assure a sturdy structure because it is the principal foundation. It is advisable to use materials like sandbags or concrete, and in the case of a five-foot windmill, the base must be at least 18 inches square thick and 20 pounds heavy.
The tower supports the blade in capturing wind energy. There are many approaches when constructing it. You can either use guyed lattice or steel and pipe tubings or make them using a jin pole or crane.
The nacelle attaches the blade to the tower and contains copper wires and magnets that run the blade and help convert the wind’s energy to electricity.
The blade is the propeller used to capture the wind’s energy, so it is necessary that the blades are able to gather the flow of the wind easily, turning with the least potential resistance.
Materials to be used for these parts must be lightweight, so you can make them from plastic or PVC pipes. Note that in strong winds and storms, the blades can pose a danger if separated from the structure, so be sure to lock in the blades tightly, keeping safety precautions in mind.
Considering that a simple windmill could cost at least $40,000, constructing one for personal use can be quite expensive, but utilizing what is around you can help you save some expenses.
It is thus recommended to recycle parts in order to cut your expenses. Following these simple instructions to build a windmill will enable you to create one from scratch.
Windmills are just the beginning. To learn more about solar and wind power, go to Solar and Wind Power For Residential Homes or if you are looking for a simple way of building your own residential wind generator, see our Energy4Green Review.
The Cost of solar energy to generate electricity
June 18, 2009 by Guest
Filed under Solar Power
Massive generation of electricity comes from fossil fuels. Now there is a huge demand for electricity but there are the fossil fuel reserves are decreasing every day. The solar power is gaining much attention since it is generated from sunlight,a natural resource that is available in plentiful. Even though Solar heating was used for centuries,solar electricity is now having greater demand. Taiwan has recently opened officially its first fully solar powered stadium. The Solar systems that are designed to replace electrical usage is now catching on in a very big manner.
The concept of using solar power for homes has come a long way in a relatively short period of time. The solar technology using solar cells converts the sunlight into electricity. The generated electricity can either be used directly or stored in the batteries and used for various applications like running tube lights, computers, dishwasher, ice maker, fans and TV etc. One of the major doubts that most of the people are what is the cost of solar energy? Is it cheaper or costly? Regardiing this let me share some information.
One of the major issues with the cost of solar energy has been that it costs more than electricity that is generated by conventional means. The Energy of sun is free but the technology required to convert it into electricity is expensive. The cost of solar power for one unit is Rs 15 while it costs just Rs 1.From coal it is 19 per unit. The price of solar power varies on the power wattage utilized by the consumer. More amount of amount means larger solar panels which comes at a higher price. The Price of a good home made solar water heater system is $14000. One can reduce their monthly power bills coming from heating hot water to 50%. The cost of a solar energy system to power a computer and few other small items will be around $700 to $1000.
The cost of solar power for your home depends on how much energy in kilowatt-hours (kWh) do you use per month. Investing by Dollars per Watt is the best way to choose solar panels. For last one decade,the price of photovoltaic panels have fallen at a steady rate of 3-5 percent per year. However, prices may not seem all that low to you, because in general the technology is getting better, so each panel is making more watts than those of a few years ago.
Because of strong demand for large photovoltaic installations around the world, there has been a general shortage of new panels. Search through local newspaper classifieds for PV panels. The Banks & Government provides loan facilities for purchasing solar lighting and heating systems. If you buy the solar panels for your house, then your insurance company also insures them, just like they insure the rest of your household items.
Now solar enterprises are spreading the awareness on the huge potential demand for solar batteries in the domestic market supported by government and implementing low priced solar technology. Unlike fossil reserves, which give power to the countries as long the resources are available, the sun is a limitless energy provider available to several generations. The Future will soon have vast solar farms generating cheaper electricity for the entire cities without emitting any pollution.
Will you still be able to see the beauty that is the coral reef?
June 2, 2009 by Guest
Filed under Travel and Leisure
We have wondered when we would start to lose some of the worlds wonders, maybe we need to do something about it. How long will we have all the coral reefs over the world and what’s causing them to vanish? Everybody knows of something that is affecting the coral reefs, but not everything is so clear, somethings we need to find out about.
Interestingly the Caribbean contains just over 20% of the world’s coral reef and there is a huge amount of damage being done to it. Honduras is a place where they grow several different plantains including bananas, these require a lot of fertilizer. It is important to realise that the fertilizer used contains nutrients that are damaging to fish and coral. Fertilizer and erosion are the two biggest culprits for damage to the coral reef in this area and they are both caused by farming, tree felling and building of new properties. But the main thing we don’t really realise is that fish are massively important to the coral reefs. Fish provide coral with the necessary grooming that it needs, this takes off bacteria that damage the coral and keep it clean, they also eat seaweed, and seaweed suffocates coral and any other plants around it by drawing in all the oxygen.
Apparently fish have dropped in population rates by around 70-95%, a massive fall. Fishing too much isn’t just detremental to our food supply; it is decreasing the corals chance to survive.
Another problem is an obvious one, Global Warming. This is the big one, rises in global warming have created acids in the sea and reduced the amount of Aragonite. This is a carbonate mineral that coral requires to stay alive and even begin growth. It is said that in about 40 years the acid levels will be too high to sustain coral and it will stop growing.
However there are few things that we can do to try and help. There are some proactive schemes around that allow us to get are hands dirty and have a good time. If you do go on luxury holidays or Caribbean holidays you could have the option to go and volunteer for a coral clean up operation, where you can help clean coral underwater or on the shore. This would have to be some of the best volunteer work you could, diving with the fish and doing your bit.
Also if you go fishing around coral, try not to drop anchor, you will tear the coral apart and damage anything living around it
So if your thinking about going abroad or maybe somewhere tropical, maybe some of you want to have weddings abroad, it might be a good idea to get there as soon as you can. If you want you could chip in with the divers and help the coral survive, you never know how much longer it will be around.
