| By :
Roger Brown
Residential wind power is a new phenomenon that is sweeping the country by storm. All types of renewable energy projects are springing up all due to the fear we all have of being left without any power from other sources. As we slowly lose our finite fuel sources, we have to do something. As the fossil fuels in the ground run dry, we have to be decisive about finding other things to supply our electricity. Until there is something we can use that is a limitless supply of energy at a super low-cost or very easy to obtain, renewable energy sources like residential wind systems are our best option available. These are the factors that go into figuring a utility's cost of electricity that they supply... Cost of generation - This is the cost to run the facility that makes the power. And, this is the part that has been deregulated in states where power is not still only the province of the utilities. This is a totally variable cost and it changes daily. So, this price changes with the price of the commodity that is used to make the power - coal, natural gas, or oil. Cost of transmission - These costs are driven by the expense of owning and maintaining the power lines that bring the electricity to homes. It is first transmitted at high voltage to avoid unnecessary line losses and then distributed finally to homes and businesses at a much lower voltage, in a format we can consume the power. Cost of maintenance - Every utility has to maintain its facilities, obviously. The cost of keeping all of this manufacturing and infrastructure up and running is expensive and has to be rolled into the price of the electricity you buy. If you own your own home wind turbine system then many of these costs you will clearly avoid. However, you are still paying for a technology where economies of scale have not kicked in fully yet, so these devices are still rather expensive. That leads to the cost of these units still not clearly being anywhere near cheaper than buying power from the utility. All in all, residential wind power is more expensive than the power you would buy from your power company. This will change one day but for now the rationale has to be that you are also helping the broader society by not requiring so many fossil fuels to be consumed to make your power at home.
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