HI Jamie, I love this site and get a lot of unbiased info from it. One area that is growing more and more is wind power and info on wind turbines. You have a forum on solar, how about one for wind power? Thanks! Paul.

I totally agree!  I see it has been almost three months since you posted this, and still no forum on wind turbines......

I wonder how we get their attention to get a forum started?

I believe that this is the best way and hope that our moderator Jamie will open up a Wind Turbine section! I've got some great info on these units, only because I spent 7 years investigating ways of energy creation and found none, at the time, that were ideal for the homeowner that didn't require a specialized engineering and electrical degrees to understand and maintain. I have since found one that is having a lot of success out there.

So lets hope we see a forum dedicated to this as it is "green building talk" and besides, the logo for this website sure looks like a wind turbine to me!!!

Paulcf, Your wish has been granted!! Suggest you look at how Geodean compiled geothermal info which now occupies a permanent position at the beginning of the Geothermal section. By listing your sources, etc., might be a way to draw folks to the Wind Power world and generate interest and questions.

We see a little wind here in southern Kansas and I'm interested in including wind power in my upcoming new home. Have looked at the residential unit built by Airstream, Flagstaff, AZ, but it only produces 1.9 kW continuous and 2.6 kW peak. Not sure this would meet total electric rqmt. How do you see residential wind power? Mainly to reduce purchased power? To provide total power for home and is that possible (without several wind generators)? Thanks for your interest in getting this section off the ground (no pun intended) and any info you have. Dave

We were looking into adding it to our line of products since it complimented our main business products.  We originally found "Freetricty" out of CA. However, they made some false claims about rebates from NY state and that was the end of that.

I Googled Airstream but only came up with mobile trailers. Can someone pass on a website or address so I can get in touch with them?

Much tx!

Warms. Sorry about that.. it's SKYstream http://www.skystreamenergy.com/skystream/ for residential wind power. Dave

My wife and I are at the point where I want to start building houses again. I have built several hundred homes already and all with satisfied customers but have worked for a plant as a Mechanical Engineer for the past 9 years and also built houses too. I stopped building just before the idea to build the houses more environmentally friendly,not only to help the environment but also to save energy started catching on. It is about time, we all got environmentally conscience and started being proactive about how our building affects our world both human and animal, and plant life. I am so excited to get back into building. I ran a construction company for a long time and just got burnt out especially with people not showing up to do the work. The one thing I fear is that we as Americans will not all become proactive and then we will have to rely on foreigners to sell us everything. I am not going to be one of them. I also love this site and I love the idea to use hydro power and wind power as well as solar. My wife and I are buying some beautiful land in the Tenn. mountains and plan to use all 3 of these. We are in the process of building some other smaller homes, smaller than ours and building them green, as well as our home too. A wind power forum would be great as well as any seminars that we could go to about wind power. I wish there were some seminars for builders here in North Alabama. I am researching everything I can, so any education I could get here too would be so very much appreciated. I already know somethings but want to know more. My wife's degree is in Interior Design and we plan to go to every seminar we can about green power and green building. Thank you for your site, it is very informative! Mark Hancock

I started with high hopes for residential wind generation here in Northeast Alabama.  The more I research, however, the wind power systems that "claim" power generation at low wind speeds do not seem to be scientifically supportable.  You can only capture energy that is present, and low wind speeds just don't have the level of embidied energy that some of the turbine systems claim to generate.

Except on a very few isolated ridges, no place in Alabama and very few places in Tennessee consistently get winds higher than 5 mph.  Without consistent 5 mph or higher winds, it just doesn't make sense.

My property is between ridges where the wind is "channeled" a bit.  When I get my house built, I'm going to test the wind speed on the roof, but my expectations are low.  I am also planning on building a belvedere with a cupola on top to function like a solar chimney and pull air through my house.  I'm also wondering if the rising heated air coming out of the cupola might help but I can't imagine it moving at 5 mph...  Maybe when my attic fan is running I could "capture" some of the energy I've consumed with the fan.  Eventually, I'll figure out what will work.  The expert sites on residential wind power also suggest it is a non-starter in Alabama...

Contact me offline and I will tell you my experience.

Just found this site and am enjoying the comments. I would be glad to field any questions regarding my wind and solar site. I have a 10KW Bergey wind turbine I installed in 2007 and have 10 KW of Evergreen solar panels I Jusst put up last November. I have also developed this into a renewabale energy business. You can see the installed system @ Prairielandwindandsolar.com I also have construction pics on that site as well. Her in Ceantral Illinois the Bergey turbine is producing about 1200 to 1500 KW per month.. I only have 5 KW of the solar system on ine and it is producitng about 800 KW per month.

Anybody have any info on helix shaped wind turbines?

Helix shaped wind turbines: are also know as wind ornaments....stay away from them as they are lots of hype, no substance....

I saw a recent-maybe 2 months ago-I think Science Channel show on wind power.
There was a professor they did one of the profiles on who had developed a horizontal helix.
Seemed interesting.