Buying The Right Home Wind Turbine Isn’t Easy
Home wind turbines typically do not deliver their maximum rated output.Why is this the case? Simply because surface and near-surface winds are generally neither strong nor consistent enough to rotate the propellers at their “best RPM range” all of the time. Raising the turbine to higher elevations usually increases the average current output because wind strength typically increases at higher elevations/altitudes although wind directions still remain variable.
The same wind supply inconsistency makes wind power inappropriate as a fixed, demand-driven source of energy unlike coal- or diesel-burning power plants that can be turned on or off according to consumer needs. This situation should change, however, if superconducting charge (or current) storage devices become cheaper. Very large-capacity battery banks, or very large batteries, or super capacitors should also be designed for the purpose of storing large amounts of electricity.
Small wind turbine generators have been available in the US since the 1920s. The Jacobs Wind Electric Company consistently sold 1- to 3-kW wind turbines to farmers in North America and around the world till the US rural electrification grid came fully online in the late 1940s, thus reducing the demand for independent energy supplies.
Because wind turbines are based on old technology they are especially reliable and rather easy to keep up for anyone who is even a reasonably good mechanic.Don’t let a fear of the technology stop you from considering wind turbines to provide at least part of your energy requirements.
A Jacobs wind turbine unit was installed at the South Pole by members of Richard Byrd’s Antarctic expedition in 1933. Jacobs wind turbines are still available for purchase in the US today. Wind turbines should be viable alternative sources of energy for domestic or commercial end-users. Denmark currently sources about 20% of its national electrical energy supply from offshore wind farms.