Home Made Energy Full Review

There are 4 different blueprints to follow, depending on what you want to do:

• Portable
• Grid intertwined
• Grid intertwined with battery backup
• Off grid solar power

Inside the HME guide you'll get specific instructions on what is best to build, based on your geographical location and the size of your house. And this doesn't mean you need to build one or another. You can easily build both systems and generate even more energy. You will get the step-by-step diagrams on how to create each of the systems with very little effort. All the components can be purchased from your local hardware store.

The 59 page HME PDF guide is very easy to read. About half of the HME guide is focused on step-by-step instructions to building solar panels; another third on building a wind turbine; and the rest on general renewable energy topics like ethanol and energy conservation.

The is the first product that teaches you how to build solar panels and wind turbines using almost exclusively videos only. The HME PDF eBook is almost an afterthought. Going with video instructions is the trend for online learning and preferred by the majority.

With all said and done, the generators were producing energy within hours of assembly! The hardest part is done. The rest of the solar power system does not require construction.

Next, we started building a wind turbine. We bought most of the required parts and decided only to build the blades, hub, and tail. Again, the lack of more detailed diagrams might scare the beginner. The eBook instructions for building the blades, hub, and tail are a slim 5 pages with only a single diagram. Compare this with Earth4Energy with about a dozen pages of detailed instructions and about ten easy to understand diagrams! We would have given up and bought premade parts if we did not have other references.

Home Made Energy does work. It takes a little creativity and maybe some additional research and background reading if this is your first project. Otherwise, building a solar panel in a few days is possible. And you can go on the cheap and get used, chipped, or free parts instead. Same goes for a wind turbine although you need a windy location to test your project before mounting it on a high tower or using guy wires. And make sure your neighbors does not compalin about the noise made by the spinning wind turbine blades...

For those who prefer reading an eBook AND complete video instructions, this is the perfect do-it-yourself starter solar panel project. For those who prefer reading an eBook only to build your own wind turbine, this may not be the perfect guide as the video instructions are required to complete the project.

You don't have to build both solar panels and a wind turbine. Start with either one as they complement each other.

Some details on electrical fundamentals in videos could be left out as it might bore or scare some homeowners. And the large number of videos may overwhelm beginners. But they are all required to complete the projects perfectly. The videos need to hold the hands of the homeowner building a solar panel from wiring and soldering to framing.

The videos should be downloadable for watching offline - could be slow for those with slow Internet connections.

Ben, a Journeyman Electrician and member of the North American Board Of Certified Energy Practitioners (NABCEP), narrates the videos and his professional expertise shows. NABCEP certainly adds extra credibility to the video instructions. And the discussions on safety is very much needed - this is missing from almost all of the other renewable energy products offered by competitors.

The Home Made Energy eBook and videos covered a lot of solar energy basics that I feel are missing from a majority of other products (putting on the hat of a homeowner without much solar knowledge). This is a welcomed addition.