Your Questions About Wind Turbine Generators Wiki

admin answers:

They’re not bad. Research makes them better all the time, and they’re getting steadily more important. So many people don’t agree that they’re bad.

“At the end of 2006, worldwide capacity of wind-powered generators was 74,223 megawatts; although it currently produces less than 1% of world-wide electricity use, it accounts for approximately 20% of electricity use in Denmark, 9% in Spain, and 7% in Germany. Globally, wind power generation more than quadrupled between 2000 and 2006.”

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wind_power

They’re one important tool in fighting against global warming. They’re not going away any time soon.

admin answers:

If you actually want to use it for anything serious, you are better off to buy a small wind turbine for a few hundred $ than to try to build one yourself. Prices on small win turbine generators have come down over the years.

If on the other hand, you just want a simple demonstration device, all you need is a generator with a shaft of adequate length, a fan assembly to bolt to it, a post to mount it on, output leads and some bits of hardware. This will produce a varying and uncertain voltage……

BUT…………..

You can then gussy it up with a wind vane and a pivot and add control electronics and you may well end up with something usable.

Here are two sites to help you go that route:

http://greenterrafirma.com/DIY_Wind_Turbine.html
http://www.mdpub.com/Wind_Turbine/
http://en.howtopedia.org/wiki/How_to_Build_a_Small_Wind_Turbine

Have fun!