For David Stickle, it was easy. He paid $4,250 for a popular Skystream 3.7 wind turbine on eBay and affixed it to the top of an existing tower. As an industrial mechanic, he could manage all his own electrical and structural work. He also had steady wind and a cooperative local utility. Not long after the turbine started spinning, Stickle noticed that the electric meter at his home in rural northwest Illinois was spinning backward and his electric bill was dropping-by as much as $40 a month. While an economist would say that Stickle, 38, will get a pretty good return on his investment, he sees it differently.
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