How can I get wind powered electricity in my home?

[bluemoonKY]

I currently get my electricity from an electric company. I would like to get a windmill installed on my roof to supplement my electricity needs. I want to be able to use the windmill to get as much free electricity as I can, and I would like to continue to keep getting the rest of the electricity I need from the electric company. I live in a townhouse. After I get a windmill installed on my roof, how do I make it so that I can get electricity from my windmill as a supplement to the electricity I get from the electric company?

 

[Bystander]

You'll need to speak with the local building department and your utility company first regarding local codes and permitting requirements.

 

[Vanadium 50]

Also, if you rent this townhouse, you need to discuss this with the owner.

 

[Drakkith]

I recommend paying very close attention to the regulations from your power company. I was looking into installing solar panels on my house and hooking them up to the grid, but my power company charges something like 75 dollars a month for this, so I decided not to.

 

[russ_watters]

I want to be able to use the windmill to get as much free electricity as I can...

Note that if money is the main motivation, it will take many years for this endeavour to turn a profit.

 

[NascentOxygen]

I would like to get a windmill installed on my roof to supplement my electricity needs.

But are you in a reliably windy location for most of the year? Silly question, maybe, but it's a crucial factor.

If you can locate the windmill some distance from your building you might sleep better at night. But don't place it close to someone else's home, either. Windmills are not silent machines, you know (except when they are not turning). Compare this with the silence of photovoltaic cells hard at work in the sunshine.

 

[Doug Huffman]

Also consider the nuisances of noise and flicker on your household and on your neighbors.

An acquaintance was annoyed to come home, north from his snowbird's nest, and find a visually unattractive windmill built in his neighborhood. When he learned of thump and flicker he was incensed to discover that state law preempts all regulation of windmills.