Wind Power For Dummies Paperback – Illustrated, October 5, 2009

If you're looking for a resource that covers most everything about residential size wind generators, this book is as good as anything you'll find. It has chapters on how to figure how much wind you have at your site, wind generator types, towers and how to erect them, legal issues, costs and how long it will take for your generator to pay for itself. The use of wind for off-grid and grid tied applications are compared. Maintenance and safety are covered in great detail. In fact, after you read the safety chapter you may decide that wind is not for you. If that's the case, you're in luck, there's a whole chapter on alternatives to wind: photovoltaics, hydro and solar thermal. A chapter on home energy conservation is also included. The amount of information can be overwhelming, but the author does a good job of tying it all together.The author, Ian Woofendan, has been writing articles on wind and renewable energy for Home Power magazine for many years, and has wind and solar power at his own home. He has a lot of practical, hands-on knowledge that is evident in WPFD.I've lived with small scale wind over ten years, and I know of only two other books this comprehensive that are oriented towards home-sized systems:1) Power From the Wind (incidentally co-authored by the author of Wind Power For Dummies), Dan Chiras. This book is excellent, and in many ways equal in scope to WPFD. It runs about 250 pages.2) Wind Power (Paul Gipe). Very good, but really technical, and includes a lot of information about very large commercial sized generators. 500 pages long!If I had to get a single book on small scale wind power, Wind Power For Dummies would be my first choice, followed by #1 and then #2.It also happens to be the cheapest of the three.

I've never read any of the "Dummy" books before. However, I do have an interest in renewable energy, so I thought this book might be a good primer. I wasn't disappointed.Woofenden writes with humor and verve. He is honest regarding the merits and troubles of having a small wind turbine. His book isn't designed to tell you how to install such a system; the book does what it is supposed to do: introduce small wind, in a readable fashion, to those who are investigating the merits of such a system for their home use.I can recommend this book to anyone who wants a good, basic introduction to wind energy. I also liked the author's section on other renewable energy alternatives. And his focus on conservation as the best way to profoundly, positively impact the planet.

This book is actually being used as a textbook for Colby Community College's renewable energy degree.

This book is just so informative, and it "pulls no punches". It is very well written, obviously by someone who has a huge amount of practical experience. It is a great assessment guide to advise you as to whether wind power is for you, and whether it is even worth considering wind power. I also liked that it had some sections on alternative sources of power, other than wind power- solar and hydro for example, and examples of good and bad windpower installations, Also covered are ways to assess your current power consumption and options to increase efficiency and reduce your power bill.I would thoroughly recommend this book to anyone who is looking seriously at wind generation, alternative forms of generation, or just wanting to increase their energy efficiency

If you don't know much about small wind power and are thinking about buying/building a system for home use this book is a good place to start. It doesn't get so technical that you can't read it (ok, some of the electricity stuff does get a little boring), but it's mostly easy to read and comprehend. I was hoping for more information about specific turbines and manufacturers, but there is not a lot of that in this book. However, if you're looking for the basic principles and whether or not wind will work for you this book does a good job with that. It's definitely a quick read and helpful for the wind newbie.

What I learned from this book is that wind power is a hassle that I don't need in my life. About 2/3 of the way through the book, the author flatly states that solar makes more sense than wind in most cases. It certainly does in my case. Bought the book because I need to upgrade a solar electric system that I designed and built 25 years ago. I suspected going in that solar would be the way to go. This book confirmed my suspicion.

I got what I was looking for - an answer to my questions about building a wind system for the guest house we manage in Port au Prince, Haiti. Not the answer I had hoped for, though. Throughout he emphasized two points, among others: it will cost a LOT of money and it will require a LOT of ongoing maintenance after it is built. I still want to look at science fair sized wind projects for the fun and education of it, and I want to explore a solar hot water system for our four showers and the kitchen.

Not what I expected from this series... Will tell you where to erect and rules and regs.?I want to know how to build one on the cheap and have a physical book to reference and take notes drawings etc..Oh well, back to youtube.