Power bills have been constantly rising for a long time but it has now reached the level where power is playing a major factor in the household budget. The increasing cost of power combined with the climate warming problems created by burning fossil fuels, is forcing more people to think green and explore the possibility of creating their own renewable power supply.

Constructing your own solar panels or a wind turbine is very tempting but how feasible is it? Can a DIY solar panel or DIY wind generator really produce a practical difference to a typical household power bill? Or are they just wishful thinking and urban myths?

There are several variables that affect the answers to these questions. The answer will depend on where you live and how far you wish to go with your home power system.

One of the primary factors that impacts the viability of home made solar panels will be the exposure that your house has to the sun. It is obvious that a log cabin deep in the heart of a forest is not going to gain much from a solar panel! So check how the sun moves over your house, how many hours of direct sun does your house get? The encouraging news is that most homes should not have any trouble in getting enough sunshine to create electricity from a home made solar panel.

The same logic is true when thinking about a DIY wind turbine; you will need wind to drive it! In most places the wind cannot be relied upon as the only source of power–it simply fills in the gaps left by solar power quite nicely. Luckily when the sun stops shining the wind normally blows.

The amount of power that can be produced from a DIY power station will be a product of the size and type of the devices being used.

Solar panels which produce electricity are also known as ‘photovoltaic cells’ or ’solar pv modules’ The amount of power that you can expect to extract from a solar panel is worked out from the surface size and weight and typically will range between 5 and 50 watts, although many cells can be simply linked together. Any excess power that is generated can be stored in batteries for use at a later time.

The power that comes from a home built wind turbine is derived from the square of the blade diameter (double the diameter and you get 4 times the power) and the cube of the wind speed (double the wind speed and you get 8 times the power). Although you can’t select the wind speed, you can select the blade diameter. Usual domestic wind turbines will have a diameter of around 6-8 feet and a typical domestic electrical system would be capable of generating 1 - 6 kilowatts with a wind speed of about 6-10miles per hour.

A home power system consisting of a home made wind generator and solar panel is not only achievable but extremely practical. With a bit of investigation it is possible to find plans for building DIY wind generators and solar panels and these do not require any great degree of skill or unusual tools. In fact, all of the elements are readily obtained from local sources and the whole production process shouldn’t take more than a couple of weekends.

Is it possible for a DIY domestic power system save you money, yes it certainly can. Either you can power electric items in your house directly from the free renewable power, or if you are able to link your home built power system to the power grid then you can sell your electricity to your power company.

Home generation of electricity is not only a fact; it is an easy way to reduce your power bills. Who knows, maybe all houses will have a renewable energy source in the future.

Visit www.my-ecopower.com and check out the plans that I used to construct my own low cost, easy to build domestic power station.

- Roger Titley

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