Windmills or Solar Power

Windmills are not practical for a single family home and are only efficient if they are very very high up and quite large. I spent the last 6 months writing a marketing proposal for a solar company and have become a huge fan of the benefits.

In the long run, solar panels will pay for themselves, they are "green," and you should qualify for a huge tax credit if when you have them installed.

Depending on how much power you use, solar panels could cover your entire bill. In fact, in the state of NM (where I live), if you produce more power from your panels than you consume, you can sell your energy back to the utility company for money. Cool right?!

Windmills that provide enough power for a home are huge, expensive and loud. Lots of whooshing. Solar is tons cheaper and better sized for a residence. About half of my neighbors fully power their houses with solar and provide the surplus to the electric company. You should be able to get a quote from a solar company near you for installation and how much power you will generate with your location.

My husband is in the electricity business. From what he tells me, windmills are pretty useless because their power cannot be stored. If it's moving , then you can use power. If it's not moving, you can't use power. So if that's true, then sounds simple enough to me - use solar - because you can store up the sun's energy and use it even when the sun is down. My husband may have a different thought knowing you live in Michigan. I dunno. But you can look online and find the best position for your solar panel for your location and time of the year.

We are on partial solar. We looked into wind turbines/windmills and geothermal and they are not practical for our home. There are companies that will do home energy audits and also help you find companies that will assess your home for alternative energy. My $.02 is to find one of them (perhaps through your local power company or state program) and get a feel for what your house can best put to use.

FYI, I knew a couple of families in MN when I was a kid who had solar. Even in winter we still get a little solar. Panels like clear, cool days, so Feb is often a good month for us.

I think the other question you need to ask is "what is my goal?" Is it for backup power? Augment what you buy? Both? We have battery backup and also only buy from the grid at night. We are not seeking to be independent, just less dependent. We produce between 60 and 70% of our annual power off the roof...and part of that is due to other changes we made to make our home more efficient (that's where the audit comes in).