power bills have been constantly rising for a long time but it has now reached the stage where power is now a major part in the household budget. The increasing cost of power in conjunction with the climate warming problems created by burning fossil fuels, is encouraging more people to think about the environment and explore the possibility of creating their own renewable power supply.

Making your own solar panels or a wind generator is very tempting but how feasible is it? Can a home made solar panel or home made wind generator really produce a practical difference to a normal household power bill? Or are they just fanciful dreams and marketing hype?

There are lots of components that impact the answers to these questions. The answer will depend on where you live and how far you wish to go with your home power station.

One of the main 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 cave deep in the heart of a forest is not going to get much benefit 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 homes should not have any trouble in getting enough sunlight to generate electricity from a home made solar panel.

The same logic is true when considering a home made wind generator; you will need wind to turn it! In most places the wind cannot be relied upon as the only source of power--it simply fills in the spaces left by solar power quite nicely. Luckily when the sun stops shining the wind normally blows.

The amount of power that can be generated from a DIY power station will depend upon the size and nature of the devices being used.

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

The amount of electricity that can be generated from a DIY wind generator is derived from 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 choose the wind speed, you can define the blade diameter. Normal 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 renewable energy set up consisting of a home made wind generator and solar panel is not only possible but very practical. With a bit of research it is possible to find plans for constructing DIY wind generators and solar panels and these do not require any great degree of skill or unusual tools. In fact, all of the parts are easily obtained from local sources and the whole building process shouldn't take more than a couple of weekends.

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

Home power generation is not only a reality; it is an easy way to reduce your power bills. Who knows, maybe all houses 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.