Have you had the thought that you'd like to put the wind to work for you, generating electricity for your home with a wind turbine? I've come across an analysis on how much it would really cost you to erect a residential wind turbine. The article gives some interesting stats on electricity use in the USA, including "the average household uses over 10,000 kilowatt hours of electricity each year", and "in 2007, the average cost for electricity from the utility grid was about 10.7¢ per kilowatt hour".

With electricity usage unlikely to go down in the future, it is an attractive alternative that will help you decrease your utility bills and lower your carbon footprint. Of course there are many considerations you need to take into account to see if a wind turbine system will work for you, such as your local wind resources and local government codes. You'll also want to confirm that you live in one of the 42 states that net metering is available in, so that if your wind turbine system produces more electricity than you use, the power is diverted to the public utility grid, and you are credited for it.

With a solar energy system, you can start small and add solar panels as space, needs, or your funds increase. But with wind turbine systems, homeowners generally install one tower and turbine and that’s it. Installing a wind turbine system one year and a second system a few years later is impractical. You'll need to determine your household's energy needs, your site's wind resources and how high to mount the turbine before you buy.

The question on any one's mind that is considering investing in a wind system is, how much will you save? The answer is, it depends. How much you save depends on the energy efficiency of your home and your local electricity rates. However, depending on your wind turbine system size, wind quality, permit and energy costs, and turbine performance, payback periods for small wind systems range from 6 to 15 years. Larger systems (10 kilowatt) can take 15 to 30 years to make up your initial costs.

Ballpark Estimate: $15,000 to $55,000

via What It Costs