Windmills

There was a discussion on another forum about wind mills. I'd love to be able to be more self sufficient. I would bet that wind power would have a better payback than solar power but I'm not sure. We need a new heating system because we're adding on to the house. We'd like to go with geothermal.

How do you save money around the farm?

We were into the whole "lets get a windmill for the house and barn" thing but they are VERY expensive, and they always are breaking and need repair (not cheap). It also costs alot to get them transported to your home, set up and working.

I'm a huge fan of the solar power, though expensive it helps out in the end.

Yeah, windmills are very expensive to set up in the beginning and around here, when you dig deep, the ground is really sandy. Windmills here usually end up having to be serviced at least once a year when used constantly because they sand up really bad. :( I think that you can get those personal sized wind turbines to power your house, barn, etc. I am not sure how much they would cost though. Some big company is putting up hundreds of the big ones (like 150 feet tall) in the TX panhandle cause one thing we have in abundance is wind. :/

Extra insulation in the house and barn ceiling, tall ceilings for heat to go up away from us humans and horses, shade tress strategically located by house and barn, barn materials to decrease work and maintenance (brick so no painting, metal roofs), energy efficient light bulbs, hot water heater on a timer and wrapped in insulation, solar electric fence (zapper).