Some people make the mistake of using car batteries, but these are designed to supply a lot of power in a short time – to start an engine. To store wind generated power, you need to use Deep Cycle batteries. These are designed to be run down more slowly, over a longer period of time, and then recover when recharged. Even gentle breezes will produce power which is stored in batteries till needed. If you live far from electric power lines you either get by with no electric power or generate your own. Gasoline powered generators will do the job but they are expensive to run and heavy polluters. In fact, the generator will be hooked up to the utility grid and you can actually sell power to the utility if you produce more than you need. Now, the word turbine can be a bit intimidating. When I think of a turbine, I picture something large and loud. In the case of small wind, this is not the case. The machinery makes a bit of noisy, but nothing substantial. Although sizes vary, your little power producer will be roughly three to five feet wide from the tip of one propeller to the other. The one area where residential wind power may be a problem involves height. Solar panels were cheap to produce, and unless you had a lot of panels exposed to a lot of sunlight, solar power systems didn’t produce very much power. We are now seeing more advancement in solar power technology, we are witnessing a resurgence in solar power systems. Though solar panels still absorb solar energy when it’s cloudy outside, it produces more energy when they’re exposed to direct sunlight. Solar power systems are therefore much more effective in places where there is a lot of direct sunlight. Also, solar power systems produce more power during longer days naturally, so in places where there is not to much sunlight during the day solar power systems may not be the best option. wind turbines











