Folks, before you invest in wind-turbine power for your home, consider a few laws of engineering.

1. Take a good look at your existing breaker panel. Most are rated for 200 amperes of 250 VAC single-phase power, 60 Hz. That is more than bunches and plenty of power with a safety margin exceeding 50%.

2. The "surge factor" that your electric company requires is there for a reason: electric motors draw huge amounts of current during startup. AC-DC "universal" motors can draw 3.5 times their rated current during startup. In your average American home, we will find 47 motors and a resistance load (lights, heat, etc).

Now, it is possible to cut back on electric draw to a remarkable degree. Gas water heater, gas domestic heating, Dometic and Servel make gas refrigerators for your home kitchen.

But unless you serve beans 3X-Week, you will need to pipe in gas. Propane requires a different combustor, but is more efficient.

Most of the time, your home will draw no more than 50 amperes. With electric heat pump, resistance electric backup heating, electric stove, electric lights, and electric water heater, you might at worst draw 100 amps. On average, you'll find that your house draws about 40 amps.

If you set up a wind generator, you will find a number of inefficiencies.

A. Wind does not come in a steady stream, so you never know just how much wind you will get. Unless you can rig several poles over 120' high with rotor blades over 40' and have enough steady wind to power them, wind is not an option.

B. Home-sized "Sarvius" rotor systems generate less horsepower than "wing" commercial systems but require far less maintenance. If your average wind speed is 15 MPH or more, a 10' X 10' rotor will supply you 26 horsepower.

To sell your surplus power to a power utility, it must generate 3-phase, have a 3-phase transformer that will boost your power to that present on the nearest line (usually 13.456 KV) and must have a phasing circuit (available from Square-D and Westinghouse).