There’s never been a better time to consider investing in home wind generators. When President Obama signed the American Recovery and Re-investment Act on Feb17th, 2009, the bill improved upon the existing tax credits for ‘green tech’ by removing all ‘cost caps’ This means that you can get a 30% tax credit if you decide to install a wind turbine in your home which means there’s never been a better time to consider home wind generators.

While home wind generators have high set-up costs they are still a great deal less expensive than other alternative energy systems. Let’s take a look at some of the popular home wind generators out there in the market.

Known for its elegant designs the Swedish firm Home Energy brings us the iconic Energy Ball that sports a very unique spherical design. Its makers claim that it’s a ‘completely silent’ wind turbine offering higher aerodynamic efficiency while being able to provide power at wind speeds beginning with 3 meters per second.

This is one of the coolest looking home wind generators out there in the market and is currently available in two models. The 0.5 kW V100 has a diameter of 43” and costs around $3,690 while the bigger 2.5k V200 is 78” in diameter and costs approximately $6,900. The company claims that the V200 can supply around 50% of the energy required to run your home. The smaller V100 is positioned as a supplement to other energy sources.

Nevada Based Mariah Power offers the Windspire model starting at $6,500 that’s gained quite a bit of attention lately, receiving one award from Popular Science in Best of What’s New ’08. This sleek model is one of the more promising offerings in home wind generators with its ability to capture breezes at 30 feet and start under slow wind conditions without a motor. With the 30% tax credit offered you can get $2,000 off on the Windspire model.

Cascade Engineering based in Michigan entered the home wind generators market with their new announced Swift Rooftop Wind Energy System. Generating less than 35 decibels of noise, the unit costs anywhere from $10,000-12,000 to install and can produce around 2,000 kWh of electricity annually.

Air Breeze is one of smaller wind turbines to enter the home wind generators field, brought out by SouthWest Windpower. It costs only about $600 to $700 and has a capacity of about 200 watts and can provide power at wind speeds of 6mph. It’s targeted more towards users in off-grid locations such as rural cabins, ships or RV’s instead of homeowners looking to power up their home. If you don’t have high power needs or just want to supplement your existing power, or get a reliable back-up, this small-scale turbine could be the right model for you. The Air Breeze also scores over other home wind generators in being able to link up with solar PV arrays.

If you want to take advantage of 21st century alternative energy technology while doing something positive for both the environment and for your pocket, consider home wind generators. If money is tight then you could also consider making your own wind generator.

DIY wind generators are becoming a popular way to get into renewable energy if you are on a budget. The first place to start is to get a guide that shows you how to build such a device. See Earth4Energy review and home made energy review for more details on these guides. They teach you how to make a wind generator and other forms of renewable energy systems for around $200 a piece.