"Ashton Crusher" wrote in message
...
I ran across a website that says it's easy to build your own solar
panels and home made windmills. Anyone actually done this?

From everything I've seen and read by the time you buy a bunch of "seconds"
solar cells and put them all together in a panel you may as well just buy a
panel. Recently I've seen panels advertised for just over $2/watt and there
is speculation that they may go even lower in about a year. Keep in mind
that this "breakthrough" has be on the verge for a long, long time and
hasn't happened yet ;-) There's a recent thread about it on alt energy.
homepower (PV Panels $1.98/Watt? vaughn 9/20/09).

As for windmills, as was mentioned you need a spot with really good,
consistant wind, a high tower, and probably so many permits that it would
never result in a positive gain financially.

I see these as viable options to produce electricity if you live somewhere
where the grid is not available. Otherwise it is almost always cheaper to
buy it from the electric company.