i picked up a 800 watt wind turbine system from Missouri wind and solar. still waiting on the grid tie inverter with dump load resistor to come in. the wind turbine is made to be mounted on schedule 40 steel piping. i know the up to 800 watts an hour i will be producing will not eliminate my energy bill but hopefully cut it down a bit until this time next year when i am planning on adding some solar panels as well. i am going to run right into the grid with a grid tie power inverter. not messing with a battery bank as those are very costly up front.

any body else doing things like this. or thinking about it.

Dave,

I have been looking at it.  I have been looking for a system to drive the hydroponics, but Barbra and I have had a few discussions for the house, but there is also talk about moving to a bigger place.  Northern Tools has a 50 or 80 watt solar panel with an inverter built in.  Basically, I am looking for a redundant, nutrient solution, delivery system in case one goes down, there is a back up.  I was looking to deliver the solution to the trees 4-6 times a day.  Half would be supplied by each system.  That is all the progress I have made. 

How big is the turbine?  Could it be attached to a structure on the roof?

My sister works for Kruger (pulp and paper company) here locally and they have been putting these things up to generate power off the island.
So far in the last 3 years they have resurrected i guess about 70 or 80 of them. I don't know how much wattage per hour they produce but they are huge.
She worked out the costs and if i remember correctly she sad that it takes something like 8 years for them to pay themselves off in energy.

I think in the long term you can open yourself up a bank account with the money you will save on power. Not to mention you will never have the worry of
losing power if something happens like an ice storm.

i have seen some roof mount systems. been looking over them and doing research for the past few years. a buddy of mine is just running 600 watt solar cells and pays 50 bucks a month to the power co. but he has his water heater and stuff on a switch. also if you know how to solder i found a place where you can get the solar cells cheep enough to produce a KWH for around 350.00 but you will have to solder them and encase them as well. if you have a creative way to do that then you can get a payoff a lot sooner than 8 years. i dont like paying retail for anything unless i have to. 

Dave no matter what it's a great plan and investment. You will love yourself for having done this.

thats the set up right there

i just figured i would keep adding over time until the meter starts going backwards...lol

In many places, the utility companies are trying to get those who generate their own electricity and are still tied to the grid to pay a fee.  Their argument is the grid still needs to be maintained.  Since you may need it someday (or may use it to sell power back to the utilities), you should pay for it's upkeep.