Living Life Abundantly

Over the past year a lot of diy energy guides have appeared on the internet, promising to teach even a complete technical newbie how to make their own home solar and wind power, and reduce their energy bills by up to 80%. One those guides happens to be Make Natural Power. But does it deliver what is promises? And is how does it stack up to the other guides?

The only thing I liked about Make Natural Power was its cover. Everything else was completely useless. On the outside it looked like it had all the features, but the advice was very limited and not that helpful.

Likes:

I have that the one positive I got out this guide is that it is possible to build a home solar power and wind turbine system, but only if you have previous diy experience and know a lot about things such as wiring, using various tools and material, and fixing things properly to your roof.

The Cons about getting the guide:

* Poor diagrams

Not only were the diagrams for both the solar and wind power instructions boring and dull, but they were badly labeled and and not even to scale.

* Low quality solar power system

Since the diagrams and instructions were difficult to follow, the reader has to make too many assumptions resulting in a low-quality solar panel, if any at all.

* Incomplete maintenance instructions

While I eventually got my wind generator to work, it ended up breaking after 2 months. This could have been prevented if I was given correct advice on how to effectively maintain the wind turbine.

* Delayed customer service

A lot of the time we had to contact customer service for assistance. But they were very slow to respond, and by the time they did reply we had either forgotten what the problem or had figured it out ourselves. On average, it will take over 5 days to get the answers you need.

Conclusion

Make Natural Power at home was obviously created by someone trying to copy Earth4Energy, and it shows in the guide. It was badly written, incomplete, and an absolute waste of our time.

Tim McDonald recommends you rather try Earth4Energy for FREE, if you want to build a quality DIY Renewable Energy system and actually reduce your electricity bill.

Back in the day if you thought about a home wind turbine, what would have come to mind is a large tower with enormous white blades spinning rather slowly. But, with the development in technology and the need for more and more people to become energy efficient, small residential wind turbines can now be erected at home. Even better news for green enthusiasts is the ability to make their home wind turbine, without spending thousands of dollars on contractors.

So, how does a home wind turbine make power?

A home wind turbine makes power by spinning a generator. The generator is attached to the rotor, made up of three aerodynamic blades, that is then attached to a tower. To keep the turbine facing the wind, the rotor has a tail, that acts as a weather vain.

If you do not know what a turbine/motor is or how it works, let me explain. Copper coils spin past magnets, and create an electromagnetic charge. This charge is then sent through wires to the batteries where it is stored. To use that charge in your home it needs to be passed through an inverter that changes the current from direct to alternating current. The reason wind power has become more popular on a small scale, is because of the improvement and efficiency in the design of the turbine.

Depending on your area’s wind conditions, the tower can vary in length. If you live near the sea where it is windy, the tower can be shorter, but in low-wind areas the tower needs to be taller to catch as much wind possible.

The advancement of the blades has also come a long way. They are now, stronger, lighter, and more aerodynamic, helping them to turn in even the softest of winds. Before the improvements, most small turbines had five blades, but now they mainly have only three. And like the tower, the blades come in a variety of sizes, depending on the wind conditions and power needs.

Up until now I have been talking about your average horizontal axis home wind turbine. But there is also another design taking off. It is a wind turbine that spins on the vertical axis. Also know as a VAWT (vertical axis wind turbine), this generator’s blades resemble some type of water-wheel on its side. The problem with the VAWT is that it spins rather close to the ground, making it unable to catch the stronger, higher up winds, so it is not a good option for residential home-owners. Also when erected in open areas, the blades are large and spin so fast birds do not see them and fly straight into them – which is not very eco-friendly.

What you need to know before you buy a home wind turbine:

How big is the property?

Home wind turbines tend to work better in open areas expanding over an acre, where few nearby buildings can deflect the wind.

How windy is it where you live?

The recommended wind speed should be at least eleven miles per hour, but if that isn’t the case then you may have to use a taller tower and larger blades to catch higher altitude winds.

What else can I use the wind turbine for?

The more uses you can think of for your wind power, the more attractive it will be to get one. Windmills have been used for centuries to pump water through irrigation systems, and farmers still use them today.

Do you rely on an uninterrupted power supply?

If you are tired of the unreliable electricity company cutting off your power without warning, then a home wind turbine can really help. Though a small wind turbine is not capable of power your entire property for a long time, the energy can be stored and used during a blackout or whenever it is needed.

Those are the keys to figuring out how much energy you need it to make, how tall the tower needs to be, and ideal sized blades, and the potential costs and benefits of buying a home wind turbine.

The great thing about technology is that it is always improving. So much so that motors have become smaller, efficient and cheap enough for us to attach a few small turbines right on the roof, and produce the same power as a larger turbine on a tall tower.

Though expert installations can be anything up to $100,000, it is possible to learn how to make your own home wind turbine for a small fraction of the cost. What’s more is America and other countries offer tax rebates to energy efficient homeowners, so not only will you save on utility bills, but also pay less tax.

Forget about using the home made energy guide to make your own power at home! Try the Earth4Energy Instructions for free, and see how you can cut your power costs by up to 80% with your own home wind turbine and solar power.

categories: home wind turbine,solar power,solar energy,wind power,renewable energy,alternative energy,home improvement,environment,technology,lighting,hobby,money saving tips,men,society

As the world reaches its energy crisis we need to reduce our dependence on non-renewable energy sources, and start generating renewable energy on a massive scale.

To date there are four main types of renewable energy that we can produce: wind power, solar power, hydro power, and geothermic power.

From The Wind:

Wind energy has been used for thousands of years. Initially windmills were built to tow boats, grind flour and pump water. But as industry developed, wind turbines were put into operation to generate electric power.

Some people still imagine windmills as the ornate ones found in the Netherlands, or the small wind pumps on farmland, but wind power technology has come a long way. Today, massive windmills, better known as wind turbines can generate millions of watts of electric energy, and smaller ones can be used at home as a substitute to grid-tied power.

The Sun:

Sunlight is the most abundant form of energy we have available, so there is no excuse for us not using more of it. But thanks to extensive research and development, we can make use of the sun in various ways – solar heating and passive solar design, solar electric power, and solar cooking and solar drying.

Passive solar design, solar power and solar heating are some of the the best ways to reduce your power consumption at home – these systems need very little upkeep, and they are also great for the environment. Solar cooking is a healthy alternative to using an oven or stove – the food is cooked slowly so more minerals and vitamins are retained, and no electric power is needed. This makes it ideal for camping and outdoor cooking in the summer months.

Hydro Energy:

Like the ancient windmills, the power of the water was once used to grind flour or to power machines for irrigation.

In modern times the power of water is mainly used in to generate hydro-electricity. This is mainly done is large dams, where water is stored and released through small channels. The force of the water through these channels is extremely strong and capable of spinning large turbines, that then generate electric power. An example would be the Hoover Dam that is used primarily to supply Las Vegas with electricity. Over 90% of our renewable energy is generated with hydro-electric dams.

The have been numerous concerns with building dams for hydro-power. They can lead to the extinction of various plant and animals, and entire villages and communities have to relocate when dammed up rivers flood their land.

Geothermal Energy:

Geothermal power is typically produced in areas with ongoing volcanic activity, where magma is relatively close to the surface. One such area is Iceland, where a large proportion of its power is produced from volcanic geysers.

Where this lava comes into contact with water, it super heats it and causes large volumes of steam to burst to the surface through geysers. The pressure from this steam is diverted and passed through turbines to generate electricity. Once the steam has passed through it is sometimes cooled, turned back into water, which is then pumped back into the geyser to make more steam. This makes it everlasting cycle…

Now that you have read this brief outline of the various types of renewable energy, you can learn more about each type by visiting our website in one of the links below.

In most 3rd world places, where electricity and other fuel sources are hard to come by, solar oven designs have been used. Not only are they effective in cooking food, but also for water purification in sunny countries like Sudan.

With energy supplies coming under threat, first world countries should get more involved in using solar cooking in households. The nice thing about a solar cooker is that is uses an abundant fuel source – the sun – so it helps to conserve the non-renewable sources of energy. Though it takes about 4 times longer than conventional ovens, it is worth the wait if you think how much it is benefiting the environment.

Over time many solar oven designs have been mastered, but they generally fall into three main categories: parabolic solar cookers, panel cookers, and box cookers.

Parabolic Shape:

A parabolic solar cooker, as the name implies, is made from any reflective material in a parabolic (bowl like) shape that focuses sunlight to a single point. It is the most effective at cooking food quickly and efficiently, however, it tends to be more expensive and hard to make by hand. Furthermore, its fixed shape makes it less portable and raises some safety concerns.

Panel Cooker:

This shape usually is in a bowl-like shape, and direct the sun’s energy to one area. But it differs to a parabolic cooker in that it is put together with a number of reflective, flat panels and is less rounded.

Although not as effective as a parabolic cooker, it is safer, easier to make, and can be folded up for portability. Panel cookers come in a number of innovative designs, the simplest being made from a fold-able, reflective windshield shade.

Box Shape:

The final shape is the box cooker. The concept behind this solar oven design is very different to the parabolic and panel cookers. Here, the cooker works by absorbing sunlight through perspex, trapping that sunlight and heat in the cooker, and creating more heat as more light streams in.

Essentially the entire box heats up, allowing larger quantities of food to be made at once. The box cooker is easiest of the three to make, since it can literally be made from a cardboard box, tin foil, and sheet of glass or perspex.

What I like most about solar oven designs is that they can be put together with simple materials found at home in the course of an afternoon. It’s a fun project to do with your kids, and the shapes you come up with are really limited to your imagination. And do not just think your solar cooker is only good for boiling water or steaming vegetables. People have successfully roasted meat in them and even baked bread. Another pro is that your solar cooker will be outside when used, so it will not cause your whole kitchen to heat up and put strain on your indoor cooling system – another way it helps you to conserve energy.

To think that – according to the Residential Energy Consumption Survey – almost 75% of Americans prepare at least one hot meal at home per day, 33% prepare two or more, a large amount of electricity can be saved if more of us try solar oven design at home.

So why not solar cooking out for yourself. You really have nothing to lose. If you are not willing to spend money on a professionally made design, why not build one at home with the kids – the internet provides a whole host of free blueprints and instructions, so try it out and have fun saving power.

Using the water‘s power is an age-old phenomenon. Over the years it has been employed for irrigation and working a variety of machines, including water-wheels. But today, it is used more importantly as a alternative energy source.

Electricity from hydro-power can be generated in three different ways: in hydroelectric dams, using the tides, and through the ocean’s waves and currents.

Hydroelectric Power:

This form of hydro power accounts for over 90% of all renewable energy generated. Power is generated in large dams, where water is forced through large turbines.

The advantage of this type of power is that not only does it produce electricity, but the dam helps collect water for our use, so it’s a power and water source in one. Furthermore, the force of the water is so strong that megawatts of electricity can be produced to help power entire cities.

However, many governments have come under scrutiny for using hydro-electric dams. These dams tend to flood a lot of land where thriving communities live. They can affect various plants and animals in the region, and cut-off the water supply for communities living downstream.

Tidal Energy:

Using the tides is the second most common form of hydro-power. Here, electricity is generated by using the low and high tides.

It has been used in Russia and France since the 1960′s in large estuaries and bays. On method is used where water from the high tide is blocked and then channeled through turbines back into the sea as the tide goes out.

Because it works with the tides, the system is very predicable. However this is also its pitfall, since it only works every 6 hours when the tides changes.

The latest tidal power system operates where large windmill-type turbines are placed in shallow water, and spin slowly as the tide comes in and goes out.

The advantage of this system is that it is an adaptation of an already technologically advanced wind turbine – so all the refinement has been done. Furthermore, the dense water is far more efficient than wind at spinning these turbines. Thus even slow-moving water is just as effective as a strong wind.

The problem is these turbines can only be built in shallow sea floors, where marine life can be damaged and other enterprises, such as oyster farming, is affected.

Wave Energy:

This is the latest in hydro-power technology. Here oceans surface waves displace and compress air that is then fed through turbines, that generate power. These systems are either attached on floating platforms in the open ocean, or built along the shore where waves break.

The good thing about using the ocean’s waves is that they have the equivalent kinetic energy of 2 million kilowatts of electricity.

But, as with all hydro-power solutions, it has potential environmental issues. Conservationists are worried about the impact these structures will have on the coastline’s fauna and flora. Also, there is a possibility of water pollution if – for example – the hydraulic fluids accidentally leaked into the sea. This can be expected if the wave generators are constantly battered by rough seas.

Last words:

Man has come up with ingenious ways to harness the power of nature to produce electricity, hydro power being one of them. Although it is an important renewable energy for the future, there is still much controversy over its long-term environmental impact.

If you have been thinking of making a more eco-friendly garden, have you considered getting a solar powered pump birdbath? Actually, have you thought of making one yourself?

So how will a solar powered pump birdbath benefit you?

The benefits are:

a: Fountains circulate the water, keeping the bird bath from going stagnant

b: It uses none of your main power supply

c: The pump works on direct current, so no inverter is required

d: It requires little power (about 6 volts) so you only need a few small solar panels.

e: No batteries are required, since the pump only really needs to operate during the day when the sun is out and the birds are in the garden.

f: You could learn to make your own solar panels, reducing the cost even further.

g: The birdbath is wireless making it very portable.

And what does it take to make a solar powered pump birdbath?

The most basic method is to buy a working birdbath with fountain, and then wire up the solar panels.

The more inexpensive, but do-it-yourself method would be to buy a birdbath that is capable of housing a fountain. Then all you need to do is buy the pump, tubing, wiring, solar panels and batteries (optional).

If you decide to make your own fountain, you will need:

A Birdbath

Here you have a choice of cascading fountains, copper fountains, terracotta birdbaths, resin fountains, or the conventional ceramic birdbath. Just make sure a pump system can be installed on the birdbath.

The Fountain Attachment:

This attachment can be source from your nearby hardware store or garden center. It is an optional extra that helps make the water spout out of the top, instead of a small trickle.

Small DC Pump:

The next part is buying the small dc pump. A typical 6 volt pump should be adequate, but you may need to go bigger, if the birdbath or water feature is larger than normal.

PVC pipe for irrigation:

This is what the water will flow through. It is best to ask your nursery about the various irrigation options. Otherwise, get ideas from finished pump powered fountains. As a rule of thumb, the PVC piping needs to be narrow to maintain enough water pressure.

Silicon Sealant:

This is one of those essentials that you should already have lying around the house. It will help seal all those joins and also protect electrics from water damage.

Solar Panels:

This is what sets this off-grid system apart from conventionally powered birdbath fountains. The pump will help determine how many solar panels you need. For a 6 volt DC pump, you will need at least a 6 volt solar panel, but rater double up on the solar panels for times when the sun is weak.

NB: To get the solar panels, you have 2 choices:

1 : Buy a small commercially available solar panel from any outlet, such as Wallmart.

2 : Make it yourself. With the right guide it is rather easy and much cheaper to make your own solar panel in a matter of hours. If this is something you would love to try do, then keep reading…

To maximize the efficiency of the solar panel, it could be mounted in a simple frame with the ability to be angled towards the sun.

Can anyone build this birdbath?

Once you have all the components and tools at your disposal, putting the system together shouldn’t take you more than 2 hours. And within an afternoon you could have a fully functional solar powered pump birdbath.

A nice added extra is to hook up some batteries to the system. That way you can store any excess power, and the pump could run all day and night. If you do want the fountain to operate for 24 hours, then you will need the following:

1) Deep cycle battery:

Since the system is small, a 12 volt battery should be enough. This will be wired up between the charge controller and the pump.

Charge Controller:

This is not essential, but it prevents your battery from over-charging. So it can really extend the life of the battery. It will be wired up between the solar panels and the battery.

Other than it being really cheap to make, the big advantage of making your solar powered pump fountain is that once you have that skill it is there with you forever. You could even make it as an eco-friendly gift for your friend’s next birthday.

As the world reaches its energy crisis we need to reduce our dependence on non-renewable energy sources, and start generating renewable energy on a massive scale.

So far we are able to produce 4 types of renewable energy: hydro energy, wind energy, solar energy, and geothermal energy.

From The Wind:

For thousands of years, the power of the wind has been used to move boats, for irrigation and to grind flour. But nowadays, wind turbines have evolved into electricity generating machines.

Although many people envision windmills as those ornate ones in Holland or the small wind-pumps on farms, they have been developed tremendously in the past decade. Now wind turbines are able to generate thousands of megawatts of power, and when used on a small scale at home, wind power can substitute conventional energy sources, helping households to get off the grid.

The Sun:

The sun is the most readily available form of energy there is, so we should be using it to a larger extent. And as technology advances, households are provided with a number of ways to harness the power of the sun. These ways include solar electricity, solar heaters, solar dryers and solar cookers.

Solar water heating, solar electricity, and passive solar design are some the simplest and cost-effective ways to reduce your conventional energy use. They do not need much maintenance, and are really environmentally friendly. With solar cooking, no gas or electricity is needed, just some good sunshine. making it very popular for campers and travelers alike. Also, the food is cooked at a muhc lowere temperature, which helps to stop vital nutrients from being lost.

Water Power:

Like windmills, hydro energy used to be used in ancient machines to grind flour or transport water in aqueducts for irrigation.

In modern times the power of water is mainly used in to generate hydro-electricity. This is mainly done is large dams, where water is stored and released through small channels. The force of the water through these channels is extremely strong and capable of spinning large turbines, that then generate electric power. An example would be the Hoover Dam that is used primarily to supply Las Vegas with electricity. Over 90% of our renewable energy is generated with hydro-electric dams.

Many environmentalists and socialists are against hydro-electric dams, since they affect the natural forna and flora and can cause the forced removal of entire cities.

Geothermal Power:

Most of the time Geothermal energy is harnessed in volcanic regions, where molten lava is rather close to the earth’s surface. An good example would be in Iceland, an extremely volcanic island that generates a lot of its power in this way.

Where this lava comes into contact with water, it super heats it and causes large volumes of steam to burst to the surface through geysers. The pressure from this steam is diverted and passed through turbines to generate electricity. Once the steam has passed through it is sometimes cooled, turned back into water, which is then pumped back into the geyser to make more steam. This makes it everlasting cycle…

This brings us to the end of the various types of renewable energy explored. To find more in-depth information on each source, you can visit our website at DIY-Renewable-Energy dot com.

For several decades various solar oven designs have typically been used in third world regions where electricity or other fuel sources are hard to find. Solar cookers have been used effectively in sunny African countries like Sudan to not only cook food, but also for water purification and pasteurization.

But just because first world countries have enough energy supplies, it does not excuse us from using solar cooking at home and helping to conserve that energy. What’s great about solar cooking is that it uses the power of the sun to cook food – though it may take 4 times longer than a conventional oven.

Over time many solar oven designs have been mastered, but they generally fall into three main categories: parabolic solar cookers, panel cookers, and box cookers.

Parabolic Shape:

With the parabolic shape, reflective metal alloy is put into a bowl-like shape, where the sunlight is then focused on a single point. The advantage of this type of design is that it efficiently uses the sun’s energy to cook food in the shortest time possible. The only drawback is that it is usually a fixed structure that is hard to transport, and it is the most expensive of the three.

Panel Cooker:

A panel cooker is any cooker made with a series of flat, reflective panels arranged to direct sunlight to a focal point.

The advantage of the panel shape is that it cheap to build, it can be folded away when not used, and therefore it is great for traveling. It may not be as effective as a parabolic design, but you can simply make one by shaping one of those foldaway windscreen blinds into parabolic shape.

Box Cooker:

Very different to the other two designs, the box cooker works by trapping the sun’s heat, instead of simply focusing it on a central point. It is designed in such a way that it let’s light in, but stops that heat from escaping. As more sunlight comes in, the hotter it gets.

Essentially the entire box heats up, allowing larger quantities of food to be made at once. The box cooker is easiest of the three to make, since it can literally be made from a cardboard box, tin foil, and sheet of glass or perspex.

What I like most about solar oven designs is that they can be put together with simple materials found at home in the course of an afternoon. It’s a fun project to do with your kids, and the shapes you come up with are really limited to your imagination. And do not just think your solar cooker is only good for boiling water or steaming vegetables. People have successfully roasted meat in them and even baked bread. Another pro is that your solar cooker will be outside when used, so it will not cause your whole kitchen to heat up and put strain on your indoor cooling system – another way it helps you to conserve energy.

And if you think that over 75% of American households use their oven or stove on a daily basis – a tremendous amount of energy could be conserved if more of us used solar oven designs during summer.

So why not solar cooking out for yourself. You really have nothing to lose. If you are not willing to spend money on a professionally made design, why not build one at home with the kids – the internet provides a whole host of free blueprints and instructions, so try it out and have fun saving power.

Over the past year a lot of diy energy guides have appeared on the internet, promising to teach even a complete technical newbie how to make their own home solar and wind power, and reduce their energy bills by up to 80%. One those guides happens to be Make Natural Power. But does it deliver what is promises? And is how does it stack up to the other guides?

Make Natural Power is a useless guide with a great cover. Though it had the same claims as the other guides, the content was disappointing, the instructions rather confusing, and it was not an enjoyable experience for me.

Good Aspects:

I have that the one positive I got out this guide is that it is possible to build a home solar power and wind turbine system, but only if you have previous diy experience and know a lot about things such as wiring, using various tools and material, and fixing things properly to your roof.

The Cons about getting the guide:

* Poor diagrams

Not only were the diagrams for both the solar and wind power instructions boring and dull, but they were badly labeled and and not even to scale.

* Low quality solar power system

The poor instructions and confusing drawings, made it difficult to replicate. This resulted in me having to make too many guesses and build a rubbish solar power system.

* Incomplete maintenance instructions

We eventually did get our windmill to work, however, since the maintenance instructions were so incomplete, our wind turbine only managed to last 2 months, until it finally seized. It turns out they forgot to tell us how to make the windmill weather-proof.

* Delayed customer service

On many occasions we required customer support to help us fill in the blanks. However, by the time we received a response we had forgotten what we had asked them for in the first place. By our experience, you can expect to wait on average 5 days for support.

Conclusion

Make Natural Power is like a cheap replica of Earth4Energy. It was poorly put together, lacked critical advice, and did nothing but frustrate me.

Introduction

At first glance we thought we would be in for a struggle, but once we started reading Home Made Power Plant, the information was solid. DIY fanatics will love this guide – you will definitely learn as you go along, since customer support may be quick, but it is not very helpful.

What we like about it:

1: Quality diagrams

Home Made Power Plant definitely had the best illustrations. The diagrams for the solar power instructions were colorful, large enough to actually see, mainly to scale, correctly labeled, and really easy to follow.

2: Nice Freebies

The extra free advice included in the manual was very helpful. This included maintenance instructions and legal issues that were comprehensive and useful. The tips on saving power were very much appreciated – they were so easy, we could not believe we never about them. And the best was that those tips alone has given significant power savings over the past couple of months.

3: Adds value to your home

What we liked most about Home Made Power Plant, and all the other diy energy guides, is that the systems added value to our home. We thought this was a myth, until we tried it for ourselves. What we did was get a valuation done before and after the system were installed. We were incredibly impressed with results! With only 2 home solar power and wind turbine systems, our house had increased in value by over $5500. They thought we had had the systems professionally installed – but we did not tell them the truth

Dislikes

1 – Poor customer support

We had a small concern on the best way to get the wiring for the solar panel system done. Although customer support was quick to reply, they simply said, “Go back and look in the guide, since it is all there.” What they did not understand was that our situation was different to what is explained in the guide. Since they were no help, we eventually figured it out ourselves.

Verdict

With fantastic illustrations, and the great bonus information, the Home Made Power Plant guide was well authored and easy enough the average person to grasp. The plans were relatively easy to follow, and other than the issue we had with customer support, they were quick to respond.