Green Power: Is Homemade Power Worth It?

I'm telling you, don't start listening to them. They think they're knocking some sense into you, but it's important to understand that a lot of their opinion is a result of their guilt. What is this I'm talking about? Well, I'm talking about the people who tell you it costs more money and time to go green than it's worth. I'm talking about the people who tell you you'll never earn back the money you've spent making your diy windmill. OK, I admit it, I haven't spent 25 years of my life researching homemade power or how to make a wind turbine, and I haven't even spent time working at the local power plant. In fact, I've probably looked at my own power meter maybe 3 or 4 times in my life.

But, here's why it's worth it:

It's YOUR life, and it's YOUR earth.

Here's what I mean: Having a job you hate leads to alcoholism, drug use, and suicide. If you're lucky, you'll only take it as far as overeating and capping the night off with a six pack. But soon enough, you've gained the weight needed to be able to protect the old, immobile Brett Farve on his offensive line. Suddenly, you've got to get out, you need a change, or you're stuck like this for life and will resort to making excuses like the rest of them.

Confused? OK, I'll be more direct. Oftentimes, doing something worthwhile adds the meaning in life that a person who is not fulfilled by their work needs. Volunteering, for example, is something many retired folks love to do to add meaning in their lives - it feels so good to volunteer. And donating, giving back to your community by helping the underprivileged, is respected by all, even by the government.

Now, here's why being just a bit greener is worth it. Your diy windmill was built with your sweat, your money, and your blood (hopefully not too much blood). Your homemade power is not harming the earth one bit and is renewed every time the wind blows or the sun shines - and you don't need oil to make that happen. You can smile with every watt of power you've made being green, which will lead to confidence and pride because, like volunteering and donating, you're giving back. And you're not just giving back to the earth, you're giving back to billions of people who will hopefully live on this earth in the future.

So when Bob and Julie, you're neighbors with the really big SUV's, wink at you as you're erecting your diy windmill, just wink back (and smile).

MORE INFO.

Is it true that wind turbines can never produce enough energy in their lifespans to offset its creation?

I've heard on several occasions that wind turbines are not economically feasible because it takes an inordinate amount of time and money, such that it will never produce enough energy to recoup that which was lost in building the turbine. Is this true? Can anyone give me a source?

Best Answer - Chosen by Voters

Hey Patrick, this concept has been around since about 1998 when it first surfaced in regard to solar panels. There was a lot of complaints that solar panels never earn back their, "Embodied Energy," which is a phrase referring to how much energy it takes to mine raw materials, ship them to a factory, build the product, ship it to it's destination and install it. To be honest, it is difficult to put an exact energy price on something like that, there are almost limitless variables, such as which mine was used, where it was shipped, how it is installed and used in the end, and so on. A non profit group called, Solar Energy International finally offered some grants to a few colleges to research this. In the end, they couldn't come up with an exact timeline, but a range based on the above variables.

First of all, solar panels actually do repay their embodied energy some time between 1.5 and 6 years after they are installed. Virtually all manufacturers warranty their product to last at least 25 years, and typically they operate well beyond this time. Similar work was done later with wind turbines, and the results are very similar. The main difference being the range of payback time is wider, meaning it's possible for a turbine to repay its embodied energy faster, like in less than a year, but it may take as long as 9 years. This is because shipping a utility sized wind turbine can take a huge bite into its embodied energy budget depending on how far it has to go. Solar panels can fit in the back seat of a good sized car, some wind turbines have specially designed hauling vehicles that might have to drive across the country, or across the street. But when you look deeper down this rabbit hole, you eventually learn that non of this matters, I'll explain.

Electricity has been around since Thomas Edison nearly burned down his house running high amounts of current through bailing wires inside old mason jars, so it isn't going away anytime soon. The question becomes, "What is the best way to produce it?" Let's assume you build a 10 KW wind turbine, and put it alongside an efficient conventional power source, say a natural gas fired turbine 10 KW generator. Which will earn back its embodied energy faster? The answer is the gas generator never does. You have to remember that once you build a natural gas generator, coal plant, or any other non renewable energy based power plant, you now have to feed it fuel for the rest of it's life. It's conversion rate will always be something below 100%, so in the end it slowly digs itself a deeper and deeper energy hole that it can never crawl out of. At least the wind turbine has a chance to get even in it's lifetime. This is the key to what makes renewable energy so great, it's really the difference between buying a home and renting an apartment, one day the home will be paid off, the apartment never is.

We live in a home that is powered by the wind and sun today. About 12 years ago we started looking into solar and wind when our electricity was constantly going out. It began as a small backup plan, just to run a few lights and some electronics. Over time it became more of a hobby and lifestyle, like growing your own tomatoes instead of buying them at the store, we just grew electrons in our garden. Now our home generates over 90% of its own electricity, and we use the power company as our backup source. Even though it will take years to get even with the power bill, it's worth it to us, and we've turned a lot of heads. Once each year now I am invited to the local schools to teach solar power to the 5th graders, then they run a field trip out to our house to see a working solar and wind powered home. Since then the power companies have been busy building wind farms and looking into solar, geothermal and biomass energy. They even have a methane plant alongside a landfill in the next county. Most people are not aware of these things, but they are happening. They are busy complaining about wind mills never earning back their manufacturing energy, solar being too expensive, or hybrid cars not really saving and gas. There is research on these subjects, and it's available for the asking if you look for it online. My suggestion is you look into it and become better informed insteading of asking hacks like me online for advice. I'll include some sources below. Hope this answers your question. Good luck Patrick, and take care, Rudydoo

Source(s):

Solar Energy International
American Wind Energy Association AWEA.ORG
Midwest Renewable Energy Association MREA.ORG
Wind Power for Home and 'Business, by Paul Gipe, library
Anything by Mick Sagrillo, library, online
Home Power Magazine, HOMEPOWER.COM

Find out more: easygreenpower.net

Truth Be Told About Solar Panels and Nothing But The Truth!

By Bongani Makhathini

For starters, building solar panels is way better than digging for gold or extracting oil. That should be obvious and common sense to anyone at this point, right? Off-course! By the time your finish designing, building and even mounting it, a gold digging company would still be in the process of drawing up the licensing agreement for all parties involved to dig up the gold gem, let-alone start the process of extracting the oil for the oil refinery company. Solar panels have unmatched value and are fast becoming wide spread.

There are three primary ways to obtain natural energy or power, namely; Sun, Wind, Water/ Tidal. Lightning was once considered as another source but was discarded later because the energy from one lightning bolt could not behave itself and thus proved to be dangerous. Capturing the energy could even claim lives in the process. Solar panels on the other hand give clean, safe, user-friendly and cheap natural energy in abundance for - and this is the keyword - FREE!

Here are some kweek-kweek advantages and disadvantages with solar:

[1] It is renewable for the most part and never exhausted. (Oil is not renewable by-the-way and would be expensive to device a plan to have it renewed).

[2] Solar cells are totally silent. They can extract energy from the sun without alarm bells going off. They are so silent that you can even hear a pin drop.

[3] Solar energy is non-polluting. That's a favorite in everyone's book.

[4] Solar cells require very little maintenance and they have no moving parts that will need to be fixed making them last a long time.

[5] ROI (Return-On-Investment). No doubt about it.

Here are the disadvantages of solar energy. There aren't that many actually especially when you put this in comparison to the advantages.

[1] Solar cells/panels, etc. can be very expensive. This is only at the onset. There are decent guides though to helping one save and they are at a ridiculously low $49.

[2] Solar power cannot be created at night, Ouch! But the good news, the photovoltaic batteries will store some of the energy for the night.

[3] Cannot operate during cloudy and windy conditions when the sun is absent.

Now what? There is a great fix for that if you're willing, build a small wind turbine. It helps during windy conditions. There you have it, the advantages of solar energy create a much longer list than the disadvantages, and the disadvantages are things that can be improved as technology improves. Join the movement to cleaner energy and start ripping the rewards that come from these readily available resources.

Start Saving Now

Studied: Information Technology Diploma
Solar Enthusiast
Bongani Makhathini
http://top-solar-panels.blogspot.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Bongani_Makhathini

http://EzineArticles.com/?Truth-Be-Told-About-Solar-Panels-and-Nothing-But-The-Truth!&id=5398318

Reviews of Green Power Easy

What I love about this product is the volume of information you get for the price, and the information just keeps coming. Each month, Green Power Easy sends its members a new volume of Green Power Easy TV Series which continues giving you valuable information each month on green DIY projects.

And, you get LIFETIME support when becoming a member, AND there's a 60 day no questions asked return policy! You really can't lose!

I've found a couple reviews. The first is by an alternative energy engineer named Miller Britzke who tried all the major DIY green power manuals out there. Here's a link to his results:

easygreenpower.net

I've also found a video review that will give you a little more information about Green Power Easy. I've pasted it here.



Here's where you can get your copy: Click Here!