As your electricity bills increase, you might consider turning to alternative energy sources to lower costs. With solar energy making alternative energy sources more accessible, and manufacturers of wind turbines (aka windmills) developing new technology that makes them more practical for an individual home, it’s worth looking into if wind-driven electricity is right for you.
The different types of residential wind turbines
Residential wind turbines essentially come in the same configurations that you might see in industrial and commercial applications, but scaled down for individual homes. The most common design is the horizontal axis turbine with two or three blades, but there are also vertical axis turbines with a variety of designs that can be installed in a residential application. The vertical axis turbines sometimes take up less space, so they can be helpful if you don’t have the space for a horizontal axis windmill.
How much you might pay for a residential turbines
The average household can expect to pay $50,000 for windmill installation, since the typical price per kilowatt is between $4,000 to $8,000 on average, according to the Colorado State University Extension Service. While this is definitely not a small investment, there are various tax credits that can save you up to 30% on installation through the inflation reduction act, and you might also be eligible for state or local credits towards the purchase of a windmill. Check on your eligibility for the US Department of Energy tax credits as well as for local programs that encourage solar and wind energy source installation.
If you are using a wind turbine as a backup power source to charge a whole house battery or to supplement another power source like solar panels, you can find a small, 1.5 kilowatt, vertical axis wind turbine for as little as $500.
Are residential wind turbines efficient?
While windmills can be pricey, they’re extremely efficient. To compare them to solar panels, which are about 20% efficient, windmills are about 50% efficient on average and can reach up to 59% efficiency in optimal conditions, according to the World Economic Forum. This can mean a significant savings on your energy bill—a wind turbine can pay for itself between six and 20 years from installation.
How to estimate the size wind turbine you need
Most residential homes use between 800 and 900 kilowatt hours of electricity each month, according to the U.S. Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy. To make a dent in your energy bill, you’ll need a wind turbine that can generate between five and 15 kilowatts. To get a more accurate idea of how much power your home usually uses, you can take a look at your electric bill and average your monthly kilowatt hours usage per month. Once you know about how much power your turbine will need to produce for your particular home, an expert will need to assess wind conditions in your yard to calculate the size blades you will need for your turbine. Residential turbine blades can range from four feet to upwards of 50 feet depending on the wind speed, so a wind turbine probably isn’t for you if your average wind speed requires, say, a 100 foot windmill.
Drawbacks of installing a wind turbine
Because wind turbines have moving parts, they tend to require more maintenance than solar panels. Since the blades can be damaged by storms and even by winds that are too fast, they need to be serviced more frequently than solar panels. Wind turbines only work when the wind is blowing, and although they will continue to produce power in the dark and on cloudy days, they can’t generate electricity if there’s no wind. This unpredictability makes them an impractical option as a sole power source in most situations. Wind turbines can also be noisy and some people don’t find them to be visually appealing, so that can be a drawback as well.
