It is becoming much more important to investigate alternative energy sources. It is well known that reserves of fossil fuels are finite, and that it is becoming harder to find new sources. On top of that the demand for these fuels is rising rapidly. There will come a time, not very far into the future, where the supply of fuel will run out, or it will become so hard to get that the price will be prohibitively high.
It is even estimated by some experts that we may even run out of fossil fuels before the end of the century.
There is no reason that we should not be looking into alternative sources of electricity. The technology has been around for a long time, and technological improvements are bringing the costs of harvesting this renewable energy down to realistic levels.
So much so that it is now even possible for people to start building their own power systems. Probably the simplest of which is a home windmill or wind turbine.
Home windmills create electricity in much the same way as a hydroelectric dam or a nuclear power station makes electricity. By moving an electrical conductor in a magnetic field. Or alternatively, moving a magnet near an electrical conductor. The principle of magnetic induction was discovered in the early 1800s, and has been used ever since to provide electricity.
Creating electricity is so simple that thousands of school children have done it for their science fair. All you need to create electricity is some movement, a magnet, and an electrical conductor.
Where home windmills use the power of the wind to create the necessary movement, hydroelectric dams move the turbines with the power of moving water, and nuclear and coal power stations use heat to create steam to move the turbines.
Now clearly it won't be possible to build a hydroelectric dam or nuclear power station in your back yard, but it is entirely possible to build a home windmill to generate electricity.
Wind energy has a number of great advantages. It is totally environmentally friendly with no pollution at all. It is an endless supply of energy which we are not ever going to run out of. And thirdly it is straightforward to use the power of the wind for our own needs.
If you think about it, mankind has been using wind power for centuries. Since even before electricity was even understood.
Thousands of years ago we first learned to use wind to push us across the ocean in the form of sails. Later on this same wind power was used to pump water and to mill grain. The milling of grain using wind is where the word windmill comes from. And now we can use the same principles in conjunction with our more recent knowledge of magnetic induction to create electricity.
So mankind harvesting wind power is not new. It is in fact ancient!
Although you can purchase windmills (or wind turbines) with price tags into the tens of thousands of dollars, the technology available today means that you can begin using wind power for a fraction of that cost.
Of course the more expensive turbines will be more efficient. Some will even allow you to be connected to the grid and feed unused electricity back to the power company. But the high cost of these turbines are out of reach of most people.
Building a home windmill yourself is really feasible. The parts are readily available, and are often available second-hand. Some people are even reporting that they have saved up to 80% of their power bill with a home-built windmill. While this is probably at the high end of the scale, it does show that the initial small investment in a hand-build home windmill can be well worthwhile.
