A windmill converts wind power into other types of energy in a three-stage process.  First the wind blows.  Then the wind causes the blades of the windmill to rotate, resulting in mechanical energy.  The mechanical energy causes a shaft to rotate inside an alternator, creating friction which can be converted by an electrical generator to electricity.  At least, that is how wind turbines are currently used.  Of course, for centuries, wind power was used to pump water.

We face innumerable crises today.  An economic crisis causes people to try to save money and live a sustainable life-style wherever they can; an environmental crisis propels individuals to look into ways to generate electricity that don’t cause environmental harm; and geo-political circumstances cause forward-looking people to seek ways to generate power without being dependent on the willingness of other nations to provide petroleum.

The windmill may be a solution to all three of those crises.  Once installed, it is easy and economical to maintain, and in the right situation can provide power for years as cheaply as the wind blows.

You should be aware, however, that the success of a windmill installation requires two physical requirements.  First, the windmill should be installed on a piece of land at least an acre in size.  Without that much space, it is unlikely that the windmill will be able to capture enough wind power for the windmill to work.  Buildings located too near to a windmill blocks the wind and diminishes its likelihood of successful operation.  And second, the wind in the area should maintain a constant speed of at least 11 miles per hour.  Otherwise, the blades of the windmill will not rotate with sufficient speed to generate electricity.

A windmill is made of the following components:

Ready-to-install windmill kits are available online and in some home stores.  Since it is essential for any windmill to suit the space available and for all components to be appropriately sized to work together.  Consult an expert for advice in these matters.

To learn more about installing residential wind turbines, visit Earth4Energy.

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To read more about powering your home with alternative energy, read:

• How To Use Renewable Energy At Home | Go Solar Power For Homes – Using renewable energy will save you thousands of dollars and assist in keeping the world green. Some people suppose that the so-called expensive.

• Excellent Advice How To Use Renewable Energy At Home – Using renewable energy will save you a lot of money and assist in keeping the world green. Some people suppose that the so-called “expensive” fee of installing renewable energy is too dangerous in case the energy fails. …

Windmills are cropping up everywhere on the landscape.  Here in the midwest, where there are lots of big, open, flat spaces, it is becoming more and more common to see windmill farms when traveling on the road.  A windmill farm is usually a patch of a more conventional farm that has windmills erected on it.  Usually, the windmills are placed there by energy companies under an agreement with the farm owner.  The windmill electricity generated by the windmills is owned by the energy company and the farmer is compensated for the company’s use of the land.

You can see windmills in other places, too.  A single wind turbine may provide windmill electricity for a farm house or other residence on a large piece of land.  There are even experiments with wind turbines on top of apartment buildings in urban environments.

Installing a windmill may have a considerable upfront cost but after a successful installation it saves money for the rest of its useful life.  There are certain ideal conditions, of course, and the installation of the windmill must be completed correctly.

If the initial cost of installing the windmill is a deterrent to converting to windmill electricity, a homeowner can turn it into a do-it-yourself project.  Of course, there are certain important considerations to take into account before attempting a project like that. 

First, a DIY windmill requires a good, clear and detailed plan.  It should take into consideration the output of windmill electricity that is desired.

Secondly, use sturdy components.  It may be stating the obvious, but keep in mind that the windmill will be withstanding high winds.  The components must be strong enough to stand up to the wind.  That is not to say that the components need to be new, however.  DIY’ers have successfully built and operated windmills with sturdy used components.

Thirdly, educate yourself about what is available on the market.  Always take into consideration the amount of output desired, the physical site in question and the budget.

If you are ready to proceed, you should take the following tips into consideration when you are choosing your windmill plans:

• Make sure the plans have clear, detailed illustrations.  Your plans should be detailed with respect to each component used in the windmill.  You should have both illustrative and textual descriptions of each component and advice about choice of components taking your site into consideration.
  
• Make sure the plans are written in reader-friendly language.  You don’t have to be an engineer to install a windmill.  But if you aren’t an engineer, you need plans that are written for lay people.
• The guide should provide information concerning where and how to find components in your area.
  

Windmill electricity is not an appropriate choice for every site.  And installing a windmill as a do-it-yourself project may not be the best choice for everyone.  But under the right circumstances, it can be a great money-saving idea.  If you are interested in learning more about windmill electricity and building home wind turbines as a do-it-yourself project, be sure to visit Earth4Energy.

To read more about residential wind turbines, take a look at these stories:

• Urban Wind Turbine: A Rare Species Spotted – Ask a die-hard altpower fan if they’ve ever seen a functional wind turbine in the urban jungle, and chances are, …

• What You Never Knew About Home Wind Turbine Design | Living Life … – Back in the day if you thought about a home wind turbine, what would have come to mind is a large tower with enormous white blades spinning rather slowly. But, with the development in technology and the need for more and more people to …

Willie Nelson and Neil Young toured in a bus that was powered by bio-diesel.  And there are people who travel around in vehicles that burn left-over cooking oil from fast-food restaurants.  There is more and more talk in the news about bio-fuels.

Now, what are biofuels again?  Bio-fuels are simply fuels that are formed when biological matter decomposes.  They can be used for any number of purposes, just as fossil fuels can be.  Like wind energy and solar energy, bio-fuels are considered a renewable energy source.

Bio-fuels differ from fossil fuels in these important respects:

• Fossil fuels are fuels that are created by, well, fossils.  In other words, fossil fuels are generated only by the remains of plant and animal matter from another geologic time.  So it goes without saying that regenerating them take hundreds of thousands of years.  On the other hand, bio-fuels can be created as quickly as growing a crop of switchgrass. 
  
• Burning fossil fuels generates enormous amounts of greenhouse gasses, which cause climate change.  Bio-fuels are safer.
  
• Unlike fossil fuels, bio-fuels are renewable. 
  

Bio-fuels are referred to by category, or “generation.”  So there are first, second, third and fourth generation bio-fuels.

The first generation of bio-fuels come from vegetable fats, starch and sugar from food crops, and from animal fats.  These bio-fuels include bio-gas and bio-diesel.  A tension arises when food crops are converted to bio-fuel crops.  That transition can cause food shortages and increased food prices.

The second generation of bio-fuels are derived from waste biomass, which can be wood or agricultural wastes, or even municipal wastes.  The waste biomass can be burned directly or converted to fuels such as ethanol or methane for burning.  The approach of using waste biomass instead of fresh crops brings balance to the problem of robbing the food supply to pay the fuel supply.

Bio-fuels can also be made from algae, and those products are the third generation.  Algae are those simple life forms that used to be categorized as plants but are now considered a life form of their own because they don’t have roots, stems or leaves.  Some farms grow algae on a large scale for these bio-fuels.  These fuels are considered very environmentally-friendly because they decompose easily into the soil and don’t harm the soil in the process. 

The fourth generation of bio-fuels are the most forward-looking and least developed type.  The approach is to optimize vegetable matter to sequester carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.  Although the intent of the first through third generations is to be carbon-neutral, the intent of the fourth generation goes further to become carbon-negative.  The aim is to actually remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and to cleanse the air.  Think of it.  Not merely stopping but reversing climate change.  Science continues to work on turning this goal into a reality.

A turn away from fossil fuels to bio-fuels would have the following advantages:

• We are running out of fossil fuels.  Finding alternatives to fossil fuels means that we won’t have to run out of energy.
• Bio-fuels are environmentally-friendly.  The first through third generations of bio-fuel reduce carbon emissions by providing carbon-neutral energy. The fourth generation, amazingly (but still largely theoretically), actually removes carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.
• Bio-fuels are cost-effective for consumers.

On the other hand, the current technology of bio-fuels pose the following disadvantages:

• The conversion of farmland from food-production to energy production reduces the supply, and therefore increase the price, of food.
• Devoting acres of land to farming it removes its availability as a natural habitat of plants and animals.

With increased improvements in technology and increased production and distribution of bio-fuels to consumers, we have the potential to reduce and even reverse carbon emissions and to reduce, and even reverse, the effects of climate change.

Read more about bio-fuels:

• biochar can sequester carbon cheaply – organic matter, such as agricultural waste, heated in the absence of oxygen splits into two types of material: a charcoal (biochar), and hydrocarbon gases and liquids. when added to soils, the charcoal can provide a powerful fertiliser. …

• Sustainability Science Program at Arizona State University at … – The Christian Science Monitor has an article – Sustainability gains status on US campuses – about Arizona State University’s new School of Sustainability. It is the USA’s first, and it includes quite a few researchers (including …

I probably don’t need to make the argument again.  It’s important to save energy.

• It’s important because it saves you money.  Gas prices go up, electric bills soar, oil or natural gas costs rise.  Saving energy saves you cash.
• It’s important because it’s good for the environment.  The effects of greenhouse gases are clear.  Climate change is real.  And the continued use of fossil fuels will do nothing but increase the potential damage to the planet.

But do you know how to save energy?  Here are some tips:

• Make sure everyone in your household is on board.  Enlist the kids to help.  Talk to your spouse and come to an agreement about it together.  Do you have a housekeeper, nanny or babysitter come by?  Speak to her to make sure she knows what you expect from her in terms of energy saving.  And the same for in-laws, parents, siblings and other family members that may spend a lot of time in your home.  Be specific about what you expect.  You may even want to post the rules.
• Switch to compact fluorescent lights, or CFL’s.  They use less energy.
• When you leave the room, turn them off.  But don’t stop there.  Turn off the television set or radio and shut down the computer.  And don’t forget the accessories.  Turn off the cable box and the DVR when you turn off the computer.  Shut off the monitor, printer and fax machine when you shut down the computer.
• Unplug appliances when you aren’t using them.  Electricity leaks into an appliance that is plugged in, whether it is on or not.  So unplug your toaster oven and coffee maker.
• Do you like to keep your porch light or outside lights on overnight?  Install a motion detector instead.  The lights will turn on when someone approaches, but you will save energy in the meantime.
• Use the washing machine and dishwasher only when you have a full load.  And if your dishwasher has an option of a quick cycle or air dry, choose them.
• Can you turn off your hot water heater during the day?  If no one is in the house and you have no need for hot water during the day, switch it off.  Turn in on when you get home from work and let the water heat up before you shower or wash the dishes.
• Install a ceiling fan to reduce the need for the air conditioner.

Of course to really save on energy, you should seriously consider converting your home to a solar powered home.  Installing a home solar panel can provide you with totally renewable, cost-free energy to cook your food, heat your home and turn on your lights and other appliances.  The most cost-effective way to convert to solar power is to do it yourself.  Visit Earth4Energy to find out how you can do it.

Read about some innovative approaches to saving energy here:

• German Innovation: Dial4Light – Street Lighting by SMS … – Lemgo, a German town situated between Hannover and Dortmund, is testing a new mobile application in a field trial: By sending a 50-cent premium-SMS a street of houses can be illuminated for 15 minutes. Many communities in Germany turn off their street lighting system from 11 pm to save energy and funds. It’s a bad solution for pedestrians at night, but a town like Lemgo saves about 50,000 Euro a year.

• Design with Intent | Design & Punishment – Design and Punishment, by Ben Cunningham. Photo from the Arts Institute at Bournemouth’s 2007 Three Dimensional Design graduate directory. Very neatly linking the themes of the last two posts (devices to make users aware of their energy …

Has this ever happened to you?  You finally get home after a hard day of work.  Another day, another dollar that doesn’t stretch nearly far enough.  You pick up the mail on the way into the house.  Mixed up in the batch is your electric or gas bill.  You open it, prepared for the worst.  You take one look at it and shriek, “Holy Moley!  I’ve got to go solar!”

There are a lot of reasons to convert your home to a solar powered home.  Reducing your power bills is a big one for most families.  And with the expectation that power bills are only going to get higher as the years go by, a lot of families think that there is no time like the present.  Of course, environmental concerns also inspire many people to go solar or search out other renewable resources, like residential wind turbines.  Committed to leaving the earth as clean as, or cleaner than, they found it, many people feel a personal obligation to go off the electric grid.  And some are motivated by a sense of anxiety over potential geopolitical turmoil.  If oil producing countries are at odds with the United States, the availability of oil may decrease or vanish.  So, to ensure energy self-sufficiency even in those unfortunate circumstances, you may want to go off the electric grid now.

The most popular types of renewable energy for residential use are solar and wind power.  Since residential wind turbines require a windy spot and a lot of space, many people looking for an alternative energy source decide to make their home a solar powered home.  All you need is sun and a roof to put the home solar panel on.

Once installed, there are a few different components in a residential solar power system.  Maybe most obviously, a residential solar power system will have a solar generator.  The solar generator uses photovoltaic cells to turn sunlight into electrical energy and stores it in cells for use in the evening or on overcast days.  The solar generator will allow you to turn on your lights and run your electrical appliances.  That electric bill we were talking about at the beginning of this article?  Gone.

Another component that a solar powered home has is a solar thermal system.  The same sunlight that warms your skin when you step out into it will warm your home with the use of photovoltaic cells and a solar thermal system.  Neither rising fuel costs nor environmental concerns nor the actions of antagonistic oil-producing countries can make you shiver in your own solar powered home.   

The third component is a solar cooker.  A solar cooker allows you to boil, roast or bake a dinner to serve five people with no fuel but sunlight, leaving behind no emissions or residue.  Although it may take longer to cook with a solar cooker, the slow-cooked character of the food often causes it to be even more delicious.  Healthy cooking is easy with a solar cooker.

So, in short, you can get a free and reliable supply of light, heat and cooking fuel when you convert your home to a solar powered home.  Want to learn more?  Click here to see how you can build and install your own home solar panel for less than $200.

 Read more about green living here:

• resolve to protect your family and kick radon out of your home in 2009 – as a builder, homeowner, and parent, i know that having a healthy and green home is extremely important in protecting the health of my family. in my experience as a builder, homes built for health and safety sell faster. …

• Easy Peasy Tip: Reduce your toilet’s water consumption | Tiny Choices – There’s an easy way to turn your regular water-guzzling tank-style toilet into a water-conserving machine: remove the lid from the tank, and check out how much.

Electricity used to seem to me almost like magic.  Flip a switch and it comes on.  Reliably.  Uninterrupted.  The user need have no understanding of how or why.  And here’s the evidence of that:  Since I have been tall enough to reach the switch, I have been able to turn on electricity.  My success rate approached 100%.  And yet, until recently, I had no idea how electricity was made.

Well, I have learned that electricity is generated by moving enormous turbines.  A turbine might be compared to a windmill or a pinwheel.  It is a collection of blades attached at one end to a hub.  When some type of fluid passes along the blades, causing them to spin.  The fluid used can be water, steam, air, or gases caused by the combustion of fuel.  The turbines can spin at very high rates and the kinetic energy caused by the spinning is made into electricity.  The spinning turbines push a huge magnet along a wire.  This causes the wire to be electrified.  The electricity is pushed out of the wire through a series of transformers.  And electricity is then stored in the transformers.

Now, we often refer to the fluid used to cause the turbines to spin when we refer to electricity.  So “hydroelectric power” means that water was used to spin the turbines, while “coal power” indicates that coal was used to heat water into steam which in turn caused the blades to spin.

A common way of causing the turbines to spin is by burning fossil fuels.  In this case, coal, petroleum and natural gas are used to heat water to boiling, causing steam.  The steam turns the blades of the turbines.  Of course, burning fossil fuels releases carbon dioxide, which contributes to pollution and climate change.  So although this method is common, efforts have increased recently to find other ways of generating the power necessary to generate electricity.

Hydroelectric power uses water to move the turbines.  When hydroelectric power is used, dams are constructed to manage the water flow, so that the quantity and power of the water are contained and exploited as needed to move the turbines.  The water is heated in the process of using the water for hydroelectric power, causing damage to the ecosystem.

Wind power is produced when wind is used to move the turbines.  In many parts of the country, “wind farms,” that is, fields of wind turbines stand ready for the wind to blow, to move the turbines cleanly and generate electricity.

Nuclear energy is produced when nuclear fission heats water to boiling.  The steam released by the boiling water is the fluid used to cause the turbines to spin.

Recently, efforts have been made to turn bio-waste into electricity.  As with fossil fuels and nuclear energy, the bio-waste is burned to heat water to boiling and turn it into steam.  The steam causes the blades of the turbine to move and electricity is generated as described above.

Solar energy, in contrast, does not rely on turbines.  Rather, solar energy uses the sun’s radiation to act upon photovoltaic cells.  We will examine how the sun’s rays become electricity in a future article.

In the meantime, if you are interested in turning your home into a solar powered home, or in installing residential wind turbines, visit Earth4Energy and do it yourself!  

Read more about wind turbines here:

• Urban Wind Turbine: A Rare Species Spotted – Ask a die-hard altpower fan if they’ve ever seen a functional wind turbine in the urban jungle, and chances are, …

• WindEnergy7.com » Blog Archive » buy turbine, home wind turbines – Free green power isn’t all you get from a home wind turbine, with your investment you have improved your home value dramatically. Your wind/solar powered home is more likely to sell than others with no home generation or emergency power …

Energy costs are rising and maybe your electricity bill has gone up, too.  And the rate increase in your electric bill may coincide with a decrease in your hours or a freeze on pay raises at work.  Folks all over the country are stretched and need to save wherever they can.  Here are some ways to help you reduce your electric bill.

The first step may sound silly.  But are you doing it?  Are you turning off your lights and appliances when you leave the room?  Do you log off of your computer at the end of the day and turn it off?  And don’t forget to turn the TV set or radio off even if you only leave the room for a few minutes.  When you turn the TV set off, do you leave the cable box or DVR on?  Some people leave their porch light burning all night long.  Couldn’t they turn it off when they go to bed?  Being aware of the electricity that you are using and turning it off when you are not using it will help you reduce consumption and save money. 

In fact, you should go beyond turning appliances off.  You should unplug them.  I only use my microwave once every couple of days.  I finally decided that I didn’t need to keep it plugged in all the time just to keep the clock running.  I already have two other clocks in the room.  Energy leaks come from appliances just being plugged in, even if they aren’t turned on.

Switch to compact fluorescent lightbulbs.  Here in Chicago, there are usually city-sponsored energy fairs a couple of times a year at which they give away CFL’s free.  And the websites of local utilities often have coupons for them.  It saves even more money to switch to CFL’s if you can get them at a reduced price.

Use the washing machine and dishwasher only when you have a full load.  And when you replace an appliance look for the Energy Star seal or other information that your new appliance is energy-saving-friendly.

Monitor your use of heat and cooling.  Using the time-setting device on the thermostat allows you to set the temperature low during the day and turn it up when your family is on the way back home.  And be moderate concerning just how warm or cool your home needs to be in order to be comfortable.

When you get into the habit of lowering your energy usage, you will find that it’s easy and no trouble to do most of these steps.  And you will probably find new ways to save on electricity once you start looking out for the opportunity.  Keep it up.  Lots of small steps, one after another, will get you far.

And if you really want to save on your energy bill, consider converting your home to solar or wind power.  That way, you can eliminate your monthly electric bill altogether.  To learn more about converting to solar or wind power, turn to Earth4Energy.

To read more about saving energy, check out:

• University at Albany – SUNY – Reducing the Electric Bill – Sustainability director Mary Ellen Mallia holds a compact fluorescent light bulb as resident assistants Brad Machado and Kelsey O’Brien ready boxes of bulbs for the residence halls. National Grid’s Sue Nealon, right, helped secure $5000 …

• ways you can reduce electric bill posted by : jared brock – it seems like everytime you turn around, prices are increasing. have you looked at your utility bills lately? prices have skyrocketed! sit back and relax. i am going to share with you some ways to reduce electric bill. …

At the age of 14, William Kamkwamba built a windmill in his village in Malawi.  In doing so, he brought electricity to the village.  Watch his interview with Jon Stewart of the Daily Show.  If he can do it, you can, too!

To learn more about windmill electricity, read:

• Windmill electricity ?Basic Parts of a Wind Turbine – Not all of us windmill electricity enthusiasts are mechanics and have a full understanding of how machines work. I still think it might be some sort of magic when I look up and see planes flying in the sky. For those of us that are not technical here is a list of the basic parts of a windmill or wind turbine.

• The Benefits Of Making Electricity From The Wind – Electricity generated from windmills is called windmill electricity. Windmill electricity is a very cheap source of energy in terms of generation of power. But that’s only once the windmill is installed. Most people know that wind …