| By :
Roger Brown
The costs for wind turbines for homes are all over the board. It is especially difficult to sort it all out because you can have windmills that look almost identical that cost vastly different prices. There are several factors however that you can use to distinguish a good one from a bad one. You can take these factors and calculate a ratio to compare various choices of wind turbines: 1. Total installed Cost - to consider what the total cost of your device is, you probably need to add the initial cost again to your estimate. Keep in mind that this is not just the cost of the turbine itself - you also need to add the cost of a tower if you need one. 2. Number of kilowatts the device produces - this is the maximum amount of power that the device will put out in a given wind. This doesn't mean that if the total connected electric load at your house is 3 kilowatts, then you will be able to make enough power for your house with a 4 kilowatt turbine. First you need to consider your average wind. 3. What is your average wind speed - know your average wind speed on your property. Armed with this number you can calculate the amount of power you are likely to get out of the turbines you are considering to buy 4. Number of kilowatts you need to make - do you want to power your whole house or just charge a set of batteries? The implications in terms of the size wind turbine you need are crucial to your success. Once you have all this information you can compute a simple ratio in order to understand the real value of the individual units you are considering. Once you determine that the wind turbine you are considering will do the job you have for it, it is time to calculate the dollars per kilowatt. To do that, take the total installed cost and divide that by the kilowatt rating of the device. Once you have that for each device you are considering you will have enough information to compare them with each other. In conclusion, windmill manufacturers often price their wind turbines for homes in confusing terms. If you put everything in terms of a ratio, you will be able to compare apples to apples. That way, you don't have to deal with the vague data sheets that the manufacturers put out.
|
![[Valid RSS feed]](http://www.articleforbacklinks.com/images/icon_Rss.png "XML Feed For RSS"){kind=icon}
Category Rss Feed
Print This Article
Add To Favorites
