Breaking down... how far to go?

check your local used appliance store. We save all our respectful looking appliances and about once a month they come to our shop with a box truck and pay 20-25 dollars ea for them. They in return repair and sell for 100-200 ea. Everybody wins

Those washing machines you find with a pancake motor aka smart drive are popular with the alternative power crowd for making wind generators.

Sell them on ebay. Here's what they look like.

This site has more information on how to build a wind generator from one of these motors.

http://hackedgadgets.com/2008/12/05/...ind-generator/