Cost of taking action: £/$/€ HIGH
Individual micro-generation wind turbines are becoming more affordable
This is a more ambitious action than most of the ones we have published, but if you have money you can invest in green action, and space to do it, it’s becoming increasingly viable to install a small wind turbine to part-power your home, and perhaps even feed electricity back into the grid.
Our action today isn’t a detailed in depth description of how to do this, but an encouragement to learn more if you own your property and would like to reduce your bills, contribute to the reduction in fossil-fuel generated electricity, and make an environmental statement.
Why is this important?
It’s important because we all need to reduce our drain on our national power systems, especially at peak times. This will mean the electricity companies won’t have to draw so much on fossil fuel power plants. Electricity generation using fossil fuels is a massive contributor to carbon dioxide levels and global warming/climate change.
In addition, as we do reduce our dependency on gas and petrol, we are going to be increasing the strain on our national electricity grids, something that is already showing in many countries.
Again, reducing our dependency at peak times will help.
What’s involved?
What is usually involved is:
- a pylon or small tower
- a wind turbine unit, which can vary in size, power and cost considerably
- cabling to a controller and battery unit
- an inverter which converts battery DC voltage to mains AC voltage
- connection and circuitry to integrate with household circuits
- connection to allow feed in to the national grid
You’ll need to do your research well, and you must use a qualified electrician to connect up to your household circuits. You will also need to talk to your electricity supplier first if you think you will be generating enough power to feed back into the grid.
What are the benefits of a domestic wind turbine?
The benefits are:
- reducing the demand and strain on your national grid
- reducing the demand for fossil fuels and the resulting carbon emissions
- reduction in other pollution from power generation
- reduction in electricity bills
- possible earnings from electricity generated and fed back into the grid
- a degree of self sufficiency (no more power cuts!)
- educating yourself and others about clean electricity generation
Where to start
Take expert advice for a project like this.
There are, however, some good websites to start learning about micro wind generation, including:
Installing a wind turbine (which.co.uk)
Wind Turbine Installation Guide | The Renewable Energy Hub
Home Wind Turbines – Benefits, Costs and Requirements (hiesscheme.org.uk)
Install a Wind Turbine at Your Home – Apply for a Grant
Take action
We are not suggesting that you immediately go out to buy and install a wind turbine, merely that if you are potentially in a position to do so, that you learn more about what is involved, and think about the environmental benefits as well as the possible long term financial benefits. It’s ambitious, but increasingly viable and we wish you well if you do go ahead.