A windmill on their roof cuts power bill by half

Oct 14 - Times of India

When advocate couple Mohammed Ali M Yadi and Shakeela Banu visited an exhibition of power solutions equipment, what they had in mind was to buy an inverter for their home. But after going through various stalls, their eyes fell on a small fan that was generating electricity for small LED bulbs. It worked like a windmill, and the couple, fascinated by the model, went for it.

"Now it's been three years that we installed the mini windmill on our terrace. We have been saving 50 per cent money on our power bills since then," said Shakeela Banu .

Recalling the day they chose to buy the equipment at the exhibition, Mohammed Ali said, "When we told the stall keeper that we wanted to buy the small windmill equipment for domestic usage, he was surprised. For, it was first of its kind usage in this part of the state. However, we were ready to invest Rs 35,000 for the windmill and solar panel that would produce 250 and 100 watts of electricity respectively. We knew that the long-run savings on power usage would be significant," he said.

The fan on the terrace of their home at Neelagund Layout in Gamanagatti village on the outskirts of Hubli has been catching the fancy of passersby. The advocate couple has also been advocating the benefits of this power saving equipment among their friends and relatives. "It is a wonderful tool with which we can achieve self-sufficiency in power. The government should encourage such novel ways of producing and saving energy by announcing incentives," Mohammed Ali said.

Suresh N, technical director of Vinayaka Energy Tech, Bangalore , who supplied the windmill and solar panel, said that inspired by the success story of the advocate couple, three more families installed the windmill recently. "More enquiries and orders are coming from Hubli-Dharwad and we are trying to meet their expectations," he added.

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