Residential windmill generators have become increasingly more common over the last few years, winning many fans in the renewable energy community and helping countless people move off the grid. Wind power is often used in conjunction with solar power because they complement each other very well -- when the sun is shining, the wind is usually not blowing, and when it is nighttime or when it is cloudy or stormy, the wind is much more likely to be blowing. Hence, using a hybrid system involving both solar panels and residential windmills helps to smooth out the spikes in power generation, providing a more even power supply.
Windmills have been used as a way to harness wind power for hundreds of years, helping to power everything from grinding grain to raising water. But it is only relatively recently that they’ve been used to generate electricity, and even more recently that people have invented ways to use windmills in residential areas.
There is a large hobbyist community and many residential windmill DIY projects available online. These are especially suited for larger tracts of land and often suggest upwards of an acre of land in order to operate at an optimum level. For residential areas where there are building ordinances, and neighbors and homeowners associations to contend with, it is often best to go with one of the commercial solutions. These already take ordinances into account and do their best to keep aesthetics and noise issues in mind.
To be perfectly honest, residential windmill technology has a ways to go before it is a viable solution for replacing a significant fraction of an urban homeowners’ electricity usage. Wind conditions are often sub-par in urban areas, and to make things worse, residential windmills are often installed on roofs, rather than towers -- this means they are not at the optimum height to harness the wind currents.
That being said there are some good starter wind turbines out there, and if you have reasonable expectations and are looking for a fun renewable energy project, a windmill is a great way to go.
  Sunforce Whisper Wind Turbine |
  Windmax HY400-3 Residential Wind Generator |
  Sunforce 44444 12-Volt Wind Generator |
