Wind Turbine Project

Description of problem

While huge wind farms cater the energy requirements of the entire state or nation, a single windmill is enough to power your home (but only when favorable conditions exist). Resorting to renewable energy source can help you save a significant amount of money, which you would otherwise spend on paying your electricity bills. Wondering how do you go about it? It's pretty simple, you can either build a windmill on your own or buy small windmills for home use from some authorized dealer. When building windmills for home use, you need to take a few factors, including wind speed in your region and obstruction in form of buildings or mountains, into consideration. In order to harness wind energy, the wind speed has to be at least 10 mph. You will also have to make sure that there are no obstructions for wind movement in the area wherein you plan to build the windmill. In order to make the blades for your windmill, you will require some strong material, such as the PVC pipe, which will withstand harsh weather. Similarly, a coat of UV resistant paint will keep these blades safe from the Sun's radiations.

Detailed, measurable specifications/goals

Typical electrically powered home runs on 780 kilowatt hours per month and 9,400 in a year's time. A windmill generating 5 to 15 kilowatts is required in order to produce enough electricity to offset the monthly usage and positively impact a residential power bill. Homeowners paying a minimum of 10 to 15 cents per kilowatt will benefit from using a windmill--and in some cases windmill owners actually produce more power than they use, so their local utilities company will pay them for the surplus power. (According to American Wind Energy Association Small Wind Global Market Study Fact Sheet)

Procedures and Analysis