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power bills have been getting more expensive for many years but it has now reached the level where power is now a major element in the household budget. The rising cost of electricity together with the climate warming problems created by burning fossil fuels, is forcing more people to think green and look at the possibility of creating their own renewable power source.

Building your own solar panels or a wind generator is very tempting but how feasible is it? Can a self build solar panel or DIY wind turbine really result in a noticeable change to a typical household power bill? Or are they just wishful thinking and urban myths?

There are many factors that impact the answers to these questions. The answer will be a product of where you live and the extent that you wish to go with your home power station.

One of the primary factors that impacts the viability of DIY solar panels will be the exposure that your house has to the sun. It is easy to see that a log cabin deep in the heart of a forest is not going to gain much from a solar panel! So check how the sun moves over your house, how many hours of direct sun does your house get? The encouraging news is that most houses should not have any trouble in gathering enough sunlight to generate electricity from a DIY solar panel.

The same logic is true when considering a DIY wind generator; you will need wind to turn it! In most locations the wind cannot be relied upon as the only source of power--it simply fills in the gaps left by solar power quite nicely. Luckily when the sun stops shining the wind tends to blow.

The quantity of power that can be created from a DIY power set up will depend upon the size and nature of the devices being used.

Solar panels which produce electricity are also known as 'photovoltaic cells' or 'solar pv modules' The amount of power that you can expect to achieve from a solar panel is worked out from the surface size and weight and typically will fall between 5 and 50 watts, although multiple cells can easily be linked together. Any excess power that is created can be stored in batteries for release at a later time.

The energy that comes from a DIY wind generator is obtained from the square of the blade diameter (double the diameter and you get 4 times the power) and the cube of the wind speed (double the wind speed and you get 8 times the power). Although you can't select the wind speed, you can select the blade diameter. Usual home wind turbines will have a diameter of around 6-8 feet and a typical home electrical system would be capable of creating 1 - 6 kilowatts with a wind speed of about 6-10miles per hour.

A home power power station consisting of a DIY wind turbine and solar panel is not only achievable but very practical. With a bit of investigation it is possible to find descriptions for constructing DIY wind turbines and solar panels and these do not demand any great degree of skill or unusual tools. In fact, all of the components are readily obtained from local sources and the whole building process shouldn't take more than a few days.

Can a DIY domestic power station save you money, yes it certainly can. Either you can feed electric items in your house directly from the free renewable power, or if you are able to connect your home built power system to the power grid then you can offer your electricity to your power company.

Home power generation is not only a fact; it is an easy way to reduce your power bills. Who knows, maybe all houses will have a renewable energy source in the future.

Visit www.my-ecopower.com and check out the plans that I used to construct my own low cost, easy to build domestic power station.