Wind Power Vs. Solar Power, Which Way To Go

If you're like the millions of people who are sick of getting squeezed by the utility companies and you want to take back some control of your utility costs, you'll be happy to know that you do have options.  Many people are producing their own electricity at home, and you can too.

There is a lot of talk about using renewable resources like solar power and wind power.  But which one should you invest in? Should you be looking at Home Rooftop Wind Turbines or should you be looking at solar panels?

The truth of the matter is that for most people a combination of both is likely to give them the biggest bang for their buck. 

Solar power is a great way to generate energy from sunlight.  This is especially good if you live in a very sunny locale.  You can have solar panels installed on your roof, or make and install them yourself.

To garner the power of the wind you will need a wind turbine. Again you will have the choice of making it or buying it.  If you purchase a wind turbine it will cost between $600 and $12,000 dollars. 

But if you make one yourself it will only cost about $200.  The difference is striking and it's the same as many things, you pay more for labor than for the actual parts.  The parts to make a small home sized wind turbine will only cost a few hundred dollars.

Even though a wind turbine can produce about 5 times the amount of electricity as one solar panel, having both sources of energy can be advantageous because you will have a greater likelihood of having one type of weather or another.

For example, if it's cloudy it's likely to be windy.  If there's no wind you might have sunshine.  Having both methods gives you the greatest potential for almost constant electricity generation.

So to get the most benefit from alternative energy sources use wind power either alone or with solar power for the maximum return on investment.

With the improved technology, home rooftop wind turbines are easy and cheap to make, so you will get your costs back very fast. In combination with the solar panels, it will not cost you that much more to make a wind turbine as well.