How to generate electricity at home? Eco-friendly tips

Generating electricity at home is a hack that can save money on your electricity bill. In addition to reducing your carbon footprint, you can be independent in the event of a failure on the part of the electricity companies. Here are some ways to generate your own electricity.

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How I can generate my own electricity?

You have many options, from producing your own biomass to buying a small photovoltaic panel. It will always depend on how much energy you use on a daily basis vs. how much energy you want to produce and whether you want to store it or share it with your neighbors.

Generating electricity at home means making a project that depends on what you choose and depends on the magnitude of the investment and maintenance. Here is a small guide on how you can generate your own electricity.

How can we generate electricity at home?

According to the Office of Energy Efficiency & Renewable Energy, you can generate electricity at home with the use of micro hydropower. Depending on the type of river flow, there is a certain type of turbine.

One of the most straightforward and reliable sources of renewable energy on your land is micro hydropower. Consider installing a modest hydropower system on your property if water flows through it to provide electricity.

In the market, there are turbines and generators that are usually sold as do-it-yourself packages; but these systems require adaptations of all kinds.

Many systems also use an inverter to convert the low-voltage direct current (DC) electricity produced by the system into 120 or 240-volt alternating current (AC) electricity. (You can also buy appliances that run on DC electricity).

What is the cheapest way to generate electricity?

The three cheapest forms of energy for generating electricity are solar, wind, and natural gas, the latter including biomass, which generates methane gas.

For the central plains, according to research by the University of Texas, wind energy is the cheapest. Natural gas is the cheapest resource in the coastal plain and northern parts of the Rocky Mountains, while solar energy is the cheapest for the southwest, midwest, and northwest.

According to this same study, the decrease in cost with these alternatives far exceeds the value of energy produced by nuclear and coal plants, yet the state prefers to keep them and recover them.

Now let’s see how each one works.

Wind energy

Domestic wind energy is not an option if you live in an urbanized area. It works for flat, exposed, or isolated locations. A typical home wind turbine can save you about 3.4 tons of carbon dioxide per year. However, the cost it reduces on your electricity bill and the benefits of generating your own electricity is overshadowed by the cost of the generator. Amounts range from $25,000 to $50,000. It is not affordable but the benefit is immense, especially if you need it and are thinking of it as an alternative way to generate electricity.

Solar energy

It is the most common renewable energy. It can be used in urbanism, in isolated areas, and anywhere because the panels can be from a single panel to a field of solar panels.

Solar panels do not need direct sunlight, but an incidence of sunlight, that is. Even cloudy days can generate electricity, you just have to investigate the best angle of incidence.

Solar energy is totally and absolutely ecological and does not emit carbon dioxide or greenhouse gases. It saves you money on your electricity bill and is easy to maintain.

Now, its cost is much lower than the turbines needed to generate wind energy. A photovoltaic panel with 323 square feet. can cost between $7000 and $15000.

The way to make a budget is to calculate how much energy you consume in your house and how much energy you want to generate with this system.

Read more: Best portable solar panel for home

What are the six ways to produce electricity?

There are several ways to produce energy, some cleaner than others and others more expensive. Here we tell you how to produce energy:

Solar energy

Photovoltaic panels take sunlight and transform it into electrical energy. It is the cheapest of all energies.

Solar heating

Solar energy can also be used to generate hot water and heat throughout the year. These systems can be installed on the roof, mounted on a free-standing frame, or hung on a wall. The energy they generate heats water that is stored in a hot water storage tank.

Aerothermal heat pumps

A renewable energy system that uses heat from the outside air to provide heating and hot water. It works in a similar way to a refrigerator, but in reverse, extracting energy from the air and using it to heat the house. Heat pumps work at any temperature.

It is a sustainable option for classic boilers or oil or gas heating. So it can be more energy efficient. It is quiet, clean, and respectful of the carbon footprint.

Wind energy

These are smaller wind turbines for homes or buildings, scaled down from those normally seen in wind farms. They generate electricity when the wind spins the blades, which drive the internal turbine and generate power.

Biomass systems

These systems use the burning of organic materials as a source of energy. Wood chips or logs are some of the sources. This is a less carbon-intensive form of heating than fossil fuels such as coal and oil since the wood burned in these systems emits only as much carbon as the tree absorbed during the months and years it was growing.

Hydroelectric systems

They are perfect if you live near a river, hydroelectric systems for homes or small developments are a lifesaver because you will always have energy, it is 100% ecological and depending on the type of river you will have options of turbines to take better advantage of the flow of the river.

As you can see, generating electricity at home requires an initial investment, which pays off in the long run by reducing the cost of the electricity bill or becoming independent from the electricity companies.

Written by Vanessa Gallanti. February 3, 2023

Enthusiast about planning, project management, construction materials and technology, and construction. A civil engineer from Los Andes University and a content writer for Kukun.