JUST HOW RIDICULOUS IS IT TO BUILD YOUR OWN WIND TURBINE?

Not a Handy Person?  Perhaps the Home Made Energy Blueprints are your answer for DIY Solar Panels and Wind Turbines!

I know many of you have read my previous reviews on building your own solar panels and wind turbines. Some of you have gone out and actually implemented your own DIY green energy system, while others have sat on the fence and debated whether it is actually possible to build a green solution for so cheap. Here is a letter I received from one of my readers. His friends laughed at him when he said he was going to generate his own electricity! I hope his story can give you another perspective on how possible it is for even the Average Joe to actually build their own green solution for their home!  Also don't forget to apply for a Home Energy Grant if you do indeed build (or plan on building) your own green solution.

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Jan 16th, 2009

Dear James,

I am just writing to let you know that I have taken your advice from your DIY Wind Turbine review and built my own system that's running in my backyard (I've enclosed actual pictures of my windmill in this email). I would like to provide you with a summary of what I have done, and hope to inspire others to "take the plunge" and go green. I am currently saving $142 per month in electricity savings, and plan on saving more once I build the solar panels that you mentioned in your reviews.
I like so many other people are fed up with rising energy prices (especially with today's economy), and I spent months desperately trying to find ways to cut my electric bills.

I have a pretty average home near San Diego. Nothing too fancy, but we love the area and we've been here for over 20 years. But over the last few years, our electricity costs have gone through the roof. As if outrageous gas prices weren't enough (argh!), I started to get outrageous power bills even though we're still using about the same amount of electricity as we had before. You read about rising energy costs in the newspaper, but let me tell you, it's a whole different thing when you see it coming out of your pocket every time your electric bill arrives each month.

I phoned around to determine how much it would cost into having a professional install a wind turbine. My jaw dropped when I found out how much one of these things would cost. We’re not talking 100s of dollars, we’re not talking 1000s of dollars, we’re talking $10,000 plus! And, oh yeah, the soonest they could put one in his three months from now. I ran the numbers and figured it would take me just about 9 years to make back the initial investment. No thanks!

And so that was the point where I found your Green Toolman blog. Hallelujah!

I consider myself pretty handy around the house, I enjoy doing small scale do-it-yourself projects and figured that I would at lease inquire what sort of expertise would be required to build this wind turbine. That is when I decided to email you, and I'm really thankful that you took the time to answer all my questions. You really gave me the confidence to go ahead and build the wind turbine.

But from there I wasn't exactly sure which blueprint I should purchase? There are so many out there. I decided to go with your recommendation and purchased Earth 4 Energy, but I found these instructions to be a little bit hard to understand and I wasn't able to complete the project.  I got about 3/4 of the way through and threw in the towel, and was pretty much ready to give up.

I then decided to give Home Made Energy a try, something that I felt I should have done originally.  I figured that since I had already purchased a majority of the parts, it would be an even bigger waste to give up at that point.  I found Home Made Energy a little more "simpler" for a guy with myself with limited skills, and was able to successfully complete the wind turbine in about 5 days total.  I still can't believe this thing is actually running in my backyard (I had to request a permit from the city), it's truly an amazing accomplishment and I'm pretty proud that I was actually able to put this together!

As I mentioned, I’ve saved quite a bit of money. So far, my electricity bill last month was $142 lower than the previous month! I’m hopeful that I can get those kind of savings each and every month, which would amount to saving about $1,700 per year (we'll see!). And I invested less than $250 to build the entire wind turbine system, which includes the Home Made Energy blueprints and all the required parts. This cost versus the $10,000 plus it would have taken for a "professional" to build is a no brainer. If you can use a hammer, a power drill, a socket set, and a mitre saw, you can easily complete this project!

I also know what it's like to be generating power from renewable sources, and how good of a feeling it is to be off the grid. Hey, I’ve never considered myself to be a “tree hugger” or anything, but I do have a greater passion about leaving the Earth in better shape for our children.

I also want to note that it was actually a pretty fun project to put together, and much easier than I thought. My friends laughed when I told then that I was thinking of generating my own electricity. You should have seen their faces when I had them over for a beer, only for them to see this fully functioning wind turbine running in my backyard. Let's just say I spent the next two hours answering questions about how I did it and how they could do the same themselves (I pointed them to your Green Toolman website and to the Home Made Energy websites).

One thing worth mentioning, I don't quite generate as much power as it says on the Home Made Energy manual. For example, they said the wind turbine could generate up to 1000 watts, but I’ve only hit about 800 on most days since we’ve got trees that block some of the wind. I did manage to make enough electricity in total to power almost of our household appliances. We’re able to run our computers, TVs and a few other appliances, and lighting essentially for free, which I'm sure you'll agree is pretty astonishing. I can't even imagine what kind of savings I'll have once I build and install some solar panels to my roof!

In my opinion, I would recommend Home Made Energy over Earth 4 Energy.  Obviously everyone has a different opinion, but this is what worked extremely well for me.  Don't get me wrong, Earth 4 Energy is a great guide but I think it is more geared to a more "experienced" audience.  Home Made Energy is more geared towards a more "causual" DIY crowd (if that makes any sense!).  I did love how both blueprints carry a 60 day guarantee, which gave me alot of confidence with my purchase (who offers this type of guarantee nowadays?).  Best part is, you can download and read the guide right away, no waiting for it to arrive by mail (which normally takes weeks).  What could be simpler?

Anyway, I just want to personally thank you for inspiring me to go green and also for allowing me to put a bit of money in my pocket each month. If you require any further details about my installation, please don't hesitate to ask.

Sincerely,

Tony Yeager