From Guest Blogger Matt: Rooftop Wind Turbines

There is a lot of talk about green living nowadays, about energy efficient, sustainable homes, about reducing the consumption of energy by using and reusing natural resources and materials. This is all with the purpose of reducing pollution, waste, and carbon gas emissions because our climate is rapidly changing, and not for the better. We are faced with the ever growing water and air pollution as well as global warming.

When it comes to natural, clean and renewable sources of energy, wind is one the best and cleanest resource you can find. It is one of many options when it comes to sustainability.

Large, industrial wind turbines have been in use for a while now. For example, there are wind farms that have tens or hundreds of turbines that can be as tall as a building. Together they generate huge amounts of energy. While the large turbines have been extremely energy efficient, small, residential rooftop wind turbines are still somewhat controversial and not as accepted. And not unreasonably so. While they are, to a degree, energy-efficient and green, using natural resources, i.e. energy created by the wind, there are still some downsides to it. Truth be told, they are still not as efficient as we would want them to be. But they are striving to be, and progress is being made towards perfecting them.

According to National Geographic, operational costs of having a rooftop wind turbine once it is installed, are almost non-existent since the wind is a free and natural source of renewable energy. In addition, and what is maybe not very widely known, many governments offer incentives, on both federal and local levels, to encourage the development of this renewable energy source. Technological progress and the increased production of wind turbines have also made them more affordable.

However, there are some things you should take into consideration before making any decisions about buying a wind turbine for your own roof:

• It is very important to consider the amount and the speed of wind in your area, or even more precisely, at the exact location of your house. It should be very windy in order for the turbines to work properly and sufficiently.
• Turbines work best at high altitudes, where the speed of wind increases, and houses are not really high enough. So there should at least be a clean and undisrupted air flow to the rooftop turbines, which means no obstacles such as trees, walls, other houses or buildings or anything that will disrupt the air flow.
• Turbines are also a bit noisy. It is not necessarily a problem, but should be considered, for example, it there are neighbors living close by that would mind and complain about it.

A small wind turbine could make economic sense, but if it does not, due to any of the said reasons, then a combination of solar panels and wind turbines is the way to go, if the goal is energy-efficient living. These two ways of using renewable energy sources complement each other very well. For example, in winter, when there is not as much sun, solar panels fall a bit short, and that is when the wind turbines take over and produce the needed extra energy. They also excel at night because the winds are stronger than during the day, and the solar panels cannot absorb the energy from the sun.

Steps are being made in the world of new technologies, and there has been progress. New small wind turbines are being created and improved in order to make them less noisy and, more importantly, to have them create more energy at smaller wind speeds.