power bills have been increasing for many years but it has now reached the level where power is playing a major element in the household budget. The growing cost of power combined with the climate warming problems created by burning fossil fuels, is driving more people to think about the environment and look at the possibility of building their own renewable power supply.

Making your own solar panels or a wind generator is very tempting but how realistic is it? Can a self build solar panel or DIY wind generator really make a practical change to a normal household power bill? Or are they just wishful thinking and urban myths?

There are many components that affect the answers to these questions. The impact will depend on where you live and the extent that you wish to go with your DIY power system.

One of the primary factors that impacts the viability of home made solar panels will be the exposure that your house has to the sun. It is easy to see that a hut deep in the depth of a forest is not going to gain much from a solar panel! So check how the sun moves over your house, how many hours of direct sun does your house get? The good news is that most houses should not have any trouble in gathering enough sunlight to generate electricity from a home made solar panel.

The same logic is true when considering a DIY wind generator; you will need wind to drive it! In most locations the wind cannot be relied upon as the only source of power--it simply fills in the gaps left by solar power quite nicely. Luckily when the sun stops shining the wind tends to blow.

The amount of power that can be produced from a DIY power set up will depend upon the size and type of the devices being used.

Solar panels which produce electricity are also known as 'photovoltaic cells' or 'solar pv modules' The amount of power that you can expect to achieve from a solar panel is worked out from the surface size and weight and typically will range between 5 and 50 watts, although many cells can easily be linked together. Any excess power that is created can be stored in batteries for use at a later time.

The power that can be generated from a home built wind generator is related to the square of the blade diameter (double the diameter and you get 4 times the power) and the cube of the wind speed (double the wind speed and you get 8 times the power). Although you can't order the wind speed, you can select the blade diameter. Typical domestic wind turbines will have a diameter of around 6-8 feet and a typical domestic electrical system would be capable of generating 1 - 6 kilowatts with a wind speed of about 6-10miles per hour.

A home power system consisting of a home made wind generator and solar panel is not only possible but extremely practical. With a bit of investigation it is possible to find plans for building DIY wind generators and solar panels and these do not demand any great degree of skill or unusual tools. In fact, all of the parts are readily obtained from local sources and the whole production process shouldn't take more than a few days.

Can a DIY domestic power system save you money, yes it certainly can. Either you can feed electric items in your house directly from the generated renewable power, or if you are able to connect your home built power system to the power grid then you can offer your electricity to your power company.

Home power generation is not only a fact; it is an easy way to reduce your power bills. Who knows, maybe all homes will have a renewable energy source in the future.

Visit www.my-ecopower.com and check out the plans that I used to construct my own low cost, easy to build domestic power station.