Small wind turbines not so powerful

I've been reading stuff about wind turbines, since I might try making one as a fun project. These things are extremely simple - essentially 19th century technology - and can be built from scratch at negligible cost using scrap or low cost components. If the collapsitarians are right and the end of the world as we know it is nigh (I don't expect that it is), knowing how to build a wind turbine might be quite handy.

However, the amount of energy which even the commercial small wind turbines can generate in a typical urban area may be severely over-hyped, according to this assesment.

"Bottom line is about £10 worth of energy per year on this site."

So even if the cost of electricity continues to inflate, as it has done in the last couple of years, it looks as if many of the commercial roof mounted wind turbines are never going to even manage to pay for themselves on any sensible time scale, and likely will suffer mechanical failures before achieving payback.

In the long run it looks as if solar energy is going to be more practical for most locations, provided that the cost of manufacture per watt continues to reduce.

As far as wind energy goes, this site seems to be one of the best with lots of useful information.