There all several types and new one ones coming out all the time.
Some small wind power generators for mounting on a house in the suburbs are becoming available. Some new designs I’ve read about are coming out of china for use in city dwellings.
Here in the U.S. there are other considerations for use of a wind powered generator. Here we have zoning codes in many cities and counties. Some haven’t yet addressed the use of a wind powered generator for homes. Some places embrace the use whole heartedly; others have already blocked the use with code restrictions. A common hurtle to over come in cities is height restrictions. Many cities have these codes and can use them to apply to the towers the wind turbine sits on.
Some cities have decided to not include wind systems in these height restrictions. If your city hasn’t made any changes for wind systems it doesn’t hurt to ask for the exclusion. The reason many don’t is no one has ever requested it before.
Some cities haven’t set permit fees yet. One man who was installing a wind system was doing to be charged $10,000 for permit fees had them reduced to $200. This is good news as one can refer to fee cost to other areas when negotiating fees with a city or county.
As peak oil and competition for remaining oil continues to gets worse the need for conservation and creating our own energy becomes more obvious to all. If your city and county government doesn’t understand this then we have only our selves to blame for not voting in ones that do. We all can make huge differences at the local level more so than any other level of government.
I hope you all who are embarking on a quest being energy independence will stand up to the challenges ahead and let your voices be heard.
