Alright, I’ll admit it – my interest in windmills and alternative energy sources is less about saving the planet and more about saving my own wallet.  Although I understand that keeping carbon emissions down is very important to our future what really made me act on this had more to do with finances than anything.  If you are wondering how I made my own homemade windmill (that really works), here’s my story…

It was early last summer when I was getting home from work one day to find my wife standing in the kitchen in tears holding a piece of paper.  My head was spinning – was is something I’d done?  What’s wrong now?  It didn’t take long to find out.

“Charlie, the electric bill…” she started in.  Oh boy, not again I was thinking.  You see, each month we have trouble scraping enough togother to pay everything.  We both work hard but the cost of everything (especially our mortgage) just keeps going up and our salaries just aren’t.

After calming her down I was given the bad news.  Our electric bill was way over what we had budgeted for and there was literally no way we could pay it all on time.

That night and for several nights I couldn’t sleep.  I tossed and turned.  I stressed.  I eventually got out of bed, logged on to the web and started searching for ways to lower our energy costs.  What I found was downright facinating.  There were several sites that claimed that it was possible to build your own solar panels and windmills to supplement your electric costs.  Being a handyman sort of guy, this was really appealing to me.

Long story short, I ordered a kit and it turned out to be junk.  We win some, we loose some.  At least I got a refund!  That bad experience didn’t stop me.  I started reading reviews and researching for the *best* system for building your own homemade windmills and solar cells.  Here’s where I ended up…

Earth 4 Energy – DIY Solar Panels, Windmills & Alternative Energy

I ordered their kit and got “in” instantly (it’s a digital thing).  There were guides, plans, videos – a ton of stuff.  I was like a kid in a candy store!  That night I stayed up until 4 a.m. soaking it all in.  The next day I headed off to the Home Depot with a list of materials and got to work.

At first it was slow going.  I had the plans but I found it easier to refer to the videos along the way so I kept heading back inside to watch those as I was building.  And, of course I still had to go to work.  That slowed me down too, lol.

It took about a week and a half of evening work to get it built the first time.  Now, I can make one much faster.  I did one for my brother in law and have one I’m working on now for a coworker.

If you’ve stuck with me this far, you are probably wondering if these things really work.  Well, get this – after we installed ours, our power bill dropped in half.  If we lived in a windier area, I’d imagine it would mage an even bigger impact but I’m thrilled with a 50% reduction in my electric costs and so is my wife.  Our tight budget is a little less tight thanks to our homemade windmill.

My next task will be to tackle the solar panels in the Earth 4 Energy guide.  When I add those to our home, I might just be lucky enough to go off the grid entierly!  Can you imagine that – being completely self sufficient?

Anyhow, that’s my homemade windmill story.  It was fun to build but most importantly, it saved us big bucks.  If I could give any advice to someone looking to build their own, it would be this – get a good guide and set of plans 1st.  Personally, I used and liked the Earth 4 Energy plans and the videos.  The videos alone were practically indispensable.  And remember that it takes some time the first time you build one so don’t get too frustrated if it seems tricky at first – it’s really not all that hard.

Plus most importantly – when it’s all built you can tell the electric company where to stick their rate increases.

Good luck with your homemade windmill!

You might be surprised to know that a homemade wind turbine can actually generate more than enough energy to power an entire house.  In some cases, people in windier areas end up with more than enough energy and can sell some of that back to the power company for a profit.

Even if you take full advantage of all of life’s modern conveniences – computers, TV’s, air conditioning and all of that good stuff your homemade windmill can supply all of the power that you need.  Most people when they think of a wind turbine picture some old fashioned lifestyle but nothing could be farther from the truth.

Of course how much energy you generate depends on where you live.  If you don’t get a lot of wind, then a windmill wouldn’t produce as much energy.  If it’s always breezy where you live than it can be an ideal choice.  There are other ways to produce your own power such as solar cells which can also be built at home.  It really depends on where you live and the conditions in your area to decide which is best for you.

The guide that I used to build my homemade windmill actually has instructions for both building your own solar panels and building your own wind turbines so it can help you either way.  You can read more about it here – Earth4energy.  It’s got videos and plans and is the most comprehensive guide I was able to find (and I tried several others with no luck).

You may or may not know it but you can buy premade wind turbines from a factory that do pretty much the same thing as the windmills that you can build on your own.  The biggest difference is the cost involved.  Realistically, you can find a factory built windmill for $4000 on up to a whopping $10k.  I don’t know about you, but my goal was to save money, not blow it!

When I built my own wind mill using the Earth2Energy guide’s homemade windmill plans, I think I spent about $180 for all of the materials but if you already have some of that handy it could cost you even less.  That’s a huge difference in price over buying premade.

Now the factory built wind turbines might look a little fancier but my homemade version suits me just fine.  Other than cost and the issue of looks, there really isnt much difference between the two options.

If building your own windmill sounds intimidating believe me it’s really not so hard.  You could do it in just one weekend if you were handy or over a couple of weekends even if you took it slow.  Besides, if you have teenagers it can make for a really neat family project when you get the kids involved too.

Ok, I’ll warn you – I’m no scientist so this is my basic understanding as just a regular guy.  I’m pretty sure a true scientist could rip the details of this one apart, but here goes.  A windmill works because as the temperature changes and wind is generated, it creates a type of energy.  The trick in is capturing that created energy which is where a wind turbine comes in to play.

A windmill is a tall structure that has spinning arms kind of like a pinwheel.  When the wind forces these blades to turn, the energy that is created can be trapped and stored for using later and to power your home.  A homemade windmill has a battery that stores this energy and makes it available for use in the home.

As you can see, it is actually kind of simple.  Wind makes power and power gets captured and stored.  The result is that your TV works and your computer turns on and your power bill goes down which is good enough to make anyone smile these days.