All things considered, i would say that building your own WindTurbine is a well worthy project. In my opinion it is fun, interesting and depending on how technically skilled you are, can save you some money on electricity bills. Most people would start their first DIY green energy adventure with a solar panel, but wind turbines are cheaper and easier to build.
First thing you have to consider is, of course, how much wind is there for you to exploit. A good place to find out about your local winds, no matter where you live in the world is the Wind Maps website.
If you have enough wind - at least 20 km per hour most of the time - and decided on all other things described in Domestic WindTurbine article like the type of wind turbine, its size and location, then is time to decide for yourself if building a wind turbine is worth the trouble. How much will cost you, what kind or technical skill is required and what results to expect; all this can be learned from other people experiments before you even start.
And here are some good free building guides, the best i could find over the internet.
1."How I built an electricity producing wind turbine" Guide
A guy who wanted - and succeed - to build a wind
turbine to produce electricity for his remote property. The guide is few years old but the step-by-step process is still relevant. In his own words he produced energy:"Not with an expensive, store-bought turbine, but with a home-built one that cost hardly anything. If you have some fabricating skills and some electronic know-how, you can build one too."What he got is a small wind turbine producing around 14.00 volts at the cost of $140. Not bad, i would say, and definitely worth taking a look.
Read more at How i home-built an electricity producing wind turbine website.
2."Large 17' Diameter Homebrew Turbine" Guide
Twenty years of wind turbines hobby and a lot of wind projects in this website for you to learn a great deal about the process of building wind turbines. The costs of this wind machine are not clearly stated but it looks a lot more expensive than the previous one. Also the amount of work and knowledge required is more serious as he build everything from the scratch.
All in all the website is interesting, fun and a must read if you really want to understand the wind turbines basic principles.
3."Build A WindTurbine" Guide
Already at the third project, MK-III, the guide starts with a small wind turbine made mostly of wood or MDF and gradually progress to a better design and efficiency. You will find here step-by-step instructions, plans to download and some videos. Claiming to be "the home turbine builders community" they also have a very useful forum where you can ask questions and get answers from more experienced people.
An interesting reading in your free time, mostly for what to avoid when building a wind turbine, check out the Build A Wind Turbine website here.
4."Living Off The Grid" Guide
A family living off the grid for more than 15 years share their experiences and successes with everybody in their guide, as well as the challenges encountered. Less technically demanding and more practical then the previous guides, they will teach you to build an efficient wind turbine for under $100 and produce over 1000 watts of electricity.
Note: this guide is not free, but for $19.97 you can save a lot of time and frustration when building your wind turbine. You can download the free preview copy of the Living Off The Grid guide here to have an idea of what to expect.
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