The Modern Techno-Homestead

The balance between a simple life on the land and keeping up with modern technological advances such as learning how to build a wind generator is sometimes precarious.

In our family's 15 years of living off the grid with renewable energy, both wind and solar power, we feel privileged to have this technological advantage over pioneers of the past. Building a wind generator has been our best investment in time and money by far.

Our family gets to pick and choose what works well in our life, but doesn't interfere with our enjoyment of our life either. Most people today have to put up with all sorts of interference in their daily routine from outside sources. Well, we're not saying our lifestyle is perfect for everyone, just that if you want to be able to choose for yourself, then this works.

If you are content to send off those checks to all those companies who charge you for living your life then this is not for you. But, if you want to learn how to do things for yourself, build a wind generator for power and even build your own solar panels then read on.

In fact, there is a revolution going on in rural living. Just visit any modern techno-homestead, off the grid or grid-tied and you will see people building wind generators and happily living off the grid.

A Bit of Background for you About Us

Our family of 5 moved to our present location - 20 acres of bush land in Eastern Ontario in 1993. That first year we built our own timber frame home from logs we cut from our property. It was a tough summer and fall for our young family, but a joyous one too as we closed in the house just before the first snows came. At this point we were a long way off from considering our renewable energy system.

Most of the interior finish was completed that winter and then we proceeded to tackle the sometimes complex problem of powering our home with wind and solar. Remember at this point we knew next to nothing about how to build a wind generator, but we learned.

This is where the delicate balance between modern technology and a simple life sometimes meets with disaster.

We wanted a quiet home without the bells and whistles of the World we had just left, but where do you draw the line? We had enjoyed immensely the summer and fall of quiet harmony around us and we wanted it to continue.

Of course we had to start with necessities first- water, heat, light and cooking. One of our chief aims in undertaking this lifestyle was to produce most of our own power and most of our own food too.

Down to Nuts and Bolts

The first item on the agenda was lights and a radio. A small Renewable Energy system can be put together with solar panels and batteries, but we quickly found out that this route can get very expensive, very fast, (our best bet as it turned out was to build a wind generator)

Do you want to learn how to Build A Wind Generator  ? Just follow our easy 4 step plan at the preceding link.

A friend of ours, local Renewable Energy installer Paul Geissen told us, "Installing solar panels is not cheap, nor is buying a new wind generator, but there are several options available.

Now, most of the options we are going to present to you, most likely you won't have the inside knowledge of the Renewable Energy industry as we learned from our friend Paul.

Don't just install solar panels, make sure you have a wind generator too.

Aren't they expensive? Why not watch this video to see one family in action with their own homemade wind generator, they learned how to build a wind generator themselves.

If you had to buy a 1000 watt wind generator new it would cost in excess of $3000, but you can build your own for only a fraction of that cost , including the cost of the detailed plans, usually you can build it for under $100.

That's how we got over 3000 watts of production power for our home for next to nothing. We combined the two technologies and went from there. We started off by buying several small solar panels to run lights and a few minor household items. But we quickly became dissatisfied with the limited output. We knew we could find a better way.

After a ton of research into how these two forms of energy work (wind and solar) we discovered that they really aren't that complex  at all. Building both solar panels and wind generators turned out to be a simple matter of finding parts and putting them together.

What's Next

After installing our relatively inexpensive Renewable Energy System it was time to figure out what we wanted to power. Most people go at it the other way and figure out what they want first, but our household has kind of evolved into a system of yes and no to simple devices.

We chose satellite internet, an entertainment system that didn't use much power and our water supply (deep well DC pump) based on reliability and the fact that they don't use much power. The choices you make will probably not be the same as ours but those choices are up to you.

Learn how to Build A Wind Generator . It only takes a couple weekends, doesn't require any special tools or talents and only a small work space too. You and your family can definitely learn how to build a wind generator of your own.