A fascinating statistic shows that roughly 40 percent of all wind capacity within Europe is directed over the UK. This creates an ideal domain particularly for home owners to reap the domestic rewards from installing a small wind turbine which can comfortably generate more green energy than your properties electrical demand including lights, electric radiators and other electrical appliances. What are the benefits from installing a wind turbine? Electricity bill savings - Thats right you will create savings on your electricity bill since generating your own electricity to power your own electrical appliances such as energy efficient electric heating will mean that you won’t demand as much electricity from your energy supplier. Wind power or any renewable technology for that matter is effectively a free energy source, for that reason immediately after you have paid for your installation the costs of electricity will be dramatically shrunk. Trim your carbon footprint - Of course wind generation is effectively a green and renewable source of electricity which eludes any release of damaging carbon dioxide or other harmful pollutants. A well positioned turbine can comfortably generate 10,000kWh which is parallel to approximately 5 tonnes of carbon dioxide annually. Create additional income through feed in tariffs - There is the ancillary support via The Feed in Tariffs scheme which was set up by the UK Government to animate the uptake in small scale renewable and low carbon electricity germinated technology. As a result there is the potential to receive hard cash for the electricity that you generate including if you consume it, providing that you have put in place a qualifying renewable system such as a wind turbine or solar panels. Any surplus electricity will be transmitted to the national grid which in addition you will receive cash for. You may be wondering how much money you could receive through a feed in tariff? Well this would be dependant on what time of the year that you register your system however tariff levels are routinely warranted for the duration of the tariff which can be as long as 20 years. Towards the start of this year we have seen the rolling out of smart meters which conveniently you will be able to use to measure how much electricity you export. Electricity storage - If your property does not have a readily connection to the national grid then it is possible to store surplus electricity via battery storage until a time when there isn’t large volumes of wind. On top of this there is the possibility of using the electricity storage for use in a power cut. How do wind turbines operate? Ok so essentially wind turbines are constructed with substantial blades that harness the wind. In short the wind velocity pushes around the mathematically shaped blade which in turn forces the blade to propel. Since there are typically multiple blades (usually three) constructed within a turbine the wind velocity causes a rotational force to occur which in succession drives a rotational turbine generating electricity. Are inexpensive roof mounted wind turbines competent enough to meet my households electricity demand? In order to ensure that wind power is cost effective, the turbine demands exposure to forceful and persistent wind velocity. With a domestic roof mounted turbine there are many obstacles that promote a turbulent flow of wind. Usually building mounted wind turbines are approximately 1kW in capacity. However this isn’t an ideal environment since it causes a rough and inconsistent bursts of wind occurring from no one direction. As you might imagine this also places a great deal of stress on the turbine vastly decreasing it’s life span. In an ideal world a wind turbine should possess a minimum elevation of 9m over any obstacle within a 150m radius. So If you are considered installing a roof top wind turbine please carry out a survey to ensure that generating wind in your designated location is a viable option. Pole Mounted wind turbines In most instances a freestanding pole mounted wind turbine offers a far superior approach in generating domestic wind power, carrying a generating capacity of approximately 5kW. Of course factors to consider are similar to that of a property mounted wind turbine in order for them to generate sufficient electricity. A pole wind turbine generally costs between £8,000 and £20,000 for a 2.5kW capacity and approximately £25,000 for a 5kW capacity device. Although just because you have installed a 5kW pole mounted wind turbine you should be cautious with these figures since they are formulated over a consistent level of wind. Should I rush out and invest in a wind turbine? If you are considering investing in a wind turbine by no means should you gallop into purchasing one without thoroughly researching to ensure that the environment that you wish to install is suitable in order to obtain a satisfactory benefit. It’s worth highlighting that any surrounding obstacles may impair a wind turbines performance and cause for the turbine to under perform leading to minimal benefit. This would especially be prevalent in cities or built up areas. On that note however, there are currently more comprehensive energy technologies which poses a more reliable payback time. That’s not to say that wind turbines are a write off for everyone. Positioned in the correct location and exposure wind turbines have the capacity to produce remarkable carbon and electricity savings to your property which is perfect if your property is supported by energy efficient electric heating.