Help Needed: Solar lighting

Try http://www.solarelectricpower.org/ or http://www.awea.org/#Wind%20energy or http://www.wind-power.com/

I would need to see your location. Do you get more wind or more sun. If I lived near the coast, I'd do the wind power. Got to compare the prices of each investment though. BTW, that is exactly what you are doing - investing. I don't know much about the industry but I do know that a wind farm would be more expensive and less attractive than some solar panels. But it may be more efficient depending on where you are located. Check history records in your town for average wind speed, or just stand on your roof, lick your finger and put it in the air to judge for yourself.

Try West Marine. There are good integrated systems for sail boats that interface both Wind and Solar into a single system. Works both day and night.

A few questions. Do you need to store your electricity or do you want to just use it to augment power from the grid? Either way I think wind is the least expensive route. Everything you need to generate electricity from wind can be obtained from junk. For instance, a lot of homesteaders use car alternators that they have re-wound themselves to produce the proper voltage at slower speeds. A tower and blades can be easily constructed in the garage out of second hand steel picked up at the local scrap yard. If you want to store your electricity, you will definitely spend some bucks on batteries. If you are just augmenting your grid power, you can use the electricity directly. For example, power a heating element directly. When the cold north wind blows, you will generate more heat. No need for storage or inverters or even regulation!

Hi DAG,
Can you tell me how to design that tower and blades? Is there any relation with load to be connected and Tower height or blades size?

I would emulate something that is already in operation. There are a great many websites that have a lot of information on them regarding blade and tower design. My grandfather has been working on a wind system. His is bigger than anything I would attmpt, but he used a tower salvaged from the power company and his blades are old helicopter blades (not sure how he came up with those). A site that I have found interesting that has a lot of useful information and also some products is www.mtmscientific.com Good luck, let me know what you come up with. Feel free to contact me in the future if you have any more questions.