How to Turn Kinetic Energy Into Electricity

 

Movement of the wind is known as kinetic energy and you can turn the kinetic energy into electricity by installing a wind turbine system in your house. Many of house owners nowadays choose to install a small wind-electric power system in order to supplement their existing grid-tied power supply. There are also some of the house owners live solely by using a wind powered system. The reason behind this is maybe there is no electric utility transmission line near their house or they do not want to rely on electricity provided by the local power provider due to high charges.

To turn kinetic energy into electricity, you need:

  • Electric bills dating back 12 months
  • Wind turbine kit

Turning Kinetic Energy into Electricity

How to Turn Kinetic Energy into Electricity

  • First thing that you have to do is to find out whether the wind speed in your neighborhood is good enough to run a wind turbine system.
    • Guidelines and more information can be gathered from related agencies such as the Department of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE).
    • According to EERE, an average wind speed required by a wind turbine system is approximately 10 miles per hour for the system tied to the grids.
    • As for a stand-alone system, the minimum requirement of wind speed is approximately 9 miles per hour.
    • Another agency that you can refer to is the National Renewable Energy Lab (www.nrel.gov) because it provides you with a wind resource map in order to determine the wind speeds of your area, state or region of certain country.
  • The next step is for you to know the guidelines or building codes set by your local municipal council or city hall on the installation of a wind turbine system in residential area.
    • You also need to have confirmation from them whether or not it is practical and legal for you to install a wind turbine system at your house.

Some of the municipalities or city hall has set certain rules on the height of wind turbine structure. For a residential wind turbine, its towers might stack to as high as 100 feet in the air.

  • Another thing that you need to check is whether there is any law provided by state, which regards to the connection of your wind turbine system to any of the existing grid system.

You can also learn or gather more information from the state and federal laws regarding to any incentives provided for anyone who construct a renewable energy power system and at the same time, you might also be able to receive a rebate or tax credit especially that has been certified by the law.

  • Using a wind powered system enables you to determine how much power or kilowatt-hours (kWh) that you want the system to generate per month.
    • In order to know how much power that you needed, you need to gather your utility statements for the past 12 months so that you would be able to add the total of kWh that you need to use for each month.
    • The total figure needs to be divided by 12 to enable you to have an average kilowatts usage per month for your household.
    • Then, you need to divide by 30 in order to know the daily average of your kWh.
    • Once you have all the information, you can set the wind turbine system accordingly so that it would be able to provide you with the correct level of energy to cater for all your household needs.
  • Try to look for a wind turbine tower with at least 30 feet high.
    • Make sure to follow the instructions provided by its manufacturer when you are securing the tower base plate to the ground.
    • Then, you need to assemble the body sections of your tower which normally consist of three sections. After that, you need to connect the three tower guyed wires that stabilizes the tower.
  • Next, you need to follow instructions for attaching the generator onto the wind tower support.
    • Then, you need to bolt and secure the rotors to the generator.
    • Once finished, you need to connect the system to your main electrical panel.
    • The procedures that you need to follow depend on whether the system is designed with batteries, a stand-alone system or even grid-tied system.
    • Make sure you attach the electric ground wires onto the tower. This is to avoid damage to any electrical components whenever lightening strikes.

    Always remember that if you want to turn kinetic energy into electricity,

    • You should discuss your project with professional technician before purchasing any unit of a wind power energy lit. You need to ensure that the kit have all the basic components like the tower base, generator, rotor blades and AC/DC inverter.
    • You also need to know the capacity size for its generator along with its rotor size which will determine the power production of the system. By doubling the size of the blades and increasing the power of the generator will help you raise the system’s power up to four times than the normal production.

Image Credit:

Flickr CC