Earthpeace E-books
Guide to Wind Power and Battery Systems Richard Lewis
This book takes you quickly and easily through the steps needed to make your own home wind turbine. Lewis starts right off stating what to be careful of, then gets down to the business. And the business is you can build a wind turbine for very little money.
Lewis clearly and simply guides us through the pros and cons behind the decisions you will have to make. He explains how the efficiency of your energy usage and your local mean wind speed affect the size your turbine.
The suggested links to calculate your local wind speed in the booklet are US/Canada based. If you are UK based BWEA is a good link to give you an idea of local mean wind speeds. Here in East Anglia we have roughly 5.9 m/s (meters per second) or about 13 mph (miles per hour).
The book covers the nitty gritty of making both a 1,000 and a 3,000 watt turbine all you need to do is to dedicate the math to your project. The 1,000 watt comes in at just under $150; the 3,000 watt at just over $200.
Clues are given as to where to look for the cheapest, or even free, parts as well as how they will perform in a wind turbine. The thorough investigation into sourcing batteries and maintaining them is excellent. You learn where to find your batteries for nothing, how to de-sulfate and prepare them for their new life.
The information here could be applied to many situations.
As an added extra you have the option of purchasing this book as a job lot with his two other books Poor Mans Guide to Homemade Amp Meters and Poor Mans Guide to Welding with Batteries as well as two nifty little programmes to help with the calculations for your turbine a DC Motor Analyzer and a Shunt Designer.
Even better, he gives after-care service too with a forum where he will readily answer questions about the business of batteries or whatever.
These guides come from someone who has been there done it. They are readable and down to earth. Well worth the purchase.
Download Poor Man's Guide to Wind Power
