How can I step up 1 V from a wind turbine to 12 V?

[kfrancfort7]

If I have a variable voltage coming from a wind turbine of about 1 V, how can I step it up, at a low cost, to a constant 12 V? Thanks

 

[Zryn]

You could use a 1:10 transformer to turn the variable (AC) voltage from 1V to 10V and then use a rectifier (diode bridge + smoothing capacitor) to transform that into [10*sqrt(2) - 2*diode turn-on voltage drop] V, which would be somewhere around 12V (DC) depending on how you design it.

 

[sophiecentaur]

Is this alternator home made? The output seems to be a very low voltage and I wonder why. Could there be a fault?
(Or are you measuring the DC component when you should be measuring the AC component?)