Windmills

[crazychicken]

Has anyone looked in to the practicality of small windmills?

CC

[7th trump]

Yes I have.
I've come to the conclusion (seen it in person) that the cheapest and most efficient windmill is cutting a 55 gallon barrel length wise in half and making a wind cup like you see used to measure wind speed is the best all round formula.
A small five mile wind produces enough torq to turn the most stubborn generaters.
If you know of anyone with a big servo's on the cheap you can make yourself a nice low voltage dc generator next to nothing.

[skid]

To state the obvious, you must live in a windy area to take advantage of a windmill. You didn't mention the purpose for having a windmill, but I assume it is for power generation. Unless you combine it with another source of generation (solar, grid), It would be an unreliable source of energy.

I did a lot of research into windmills, as i used to live in a windy place. I came to the conclusion that I preferred not to live in such a windy place, as it made life somewhat miserable being exposed to wind all the time.

[7th trump]

Iowa beleive it or not is windy and muggy and wind mills are going up everywhere in the country side.
farmers are putting up small/medium class mills for hog rendering operations.
One farmer says his electrical bill is brought to a zero after the power company buys back what he doesnt use.
Not bad for a hog operation.