- 1). Take two plastic drinking straws and tape them together so they form a cross or X. Insert the ends of the straws through the sides of four plastic cups, with all the cups facing the same direction. Add a few pieces of tape inside the cups to secure and stabilize the straws so they do not twist. Run a push pin through the center of the straw cross section and into an pencil eraser. Use a red felt pen to color the outside of one of the cups. This represents your anemometer, and it will measure your wind speed.
- 2). Walk to the highest part of your property, or a part of your property you suspect has the highest wind velocity. Insert your homemade anemometer into the ground, pushing it in firmly. Let the cups rotate. For one minute, count the passing of the red cup each time it makes a revolution. Use a watch with a second hand or a stopwatch. Make sure the cups are rotating freely and that the push pin is not restricting their movement.
- 3). Tally the number of revolutions the red cup makes in one minute. The formula for calculating the wind speed energy is 10 revolutions equal 1 mph in wind speed. If the cup rotated 100 times, the approximate wind speed will be 10 mph. One hundred and fifty rotations will equal 15 mph. Test other parts of your property at different elevations. You can raise the anemometer over your head to test for a higher air current.
- 4). Test your property during different times of the day over a period of weeks. If you intend to invest in a commercial windmill for your property or lease to a windmill harvester, you should conduct a wind energy test for at least a year, making calculations for all the seasons. Purchase a commercial handheld anemometer and use it, following the directions. It will give you an instant and precise reading.
- 5). Determine whether you have enough wind energy. Wind speeds of between seven mph and 10 mph have enough power to drive a small windmill that can spin an electrical turbine. For the large tower turbine windmills, you will need from 25 to 35 mph.
SHARE
