Converting Wind into Energy
Wind is created from the earth's warm air rising and creating a vacuum that causes cooler air to replace it. This flow is constantly disturbed by the rotation of the earth and local atmospheric conditions. This rotating cycle results in what we call wind. When harnessed, using sails, mills, and modern wind turbines, wind can serve us a powerful and renewable energy source that may soon become very important to our modern lifestyles.
Wind can be converted into mechanical energy which people have done for centuries using the windmill. Through this they were able to perform tasks such as cutting wood, grinding grain for flour, and directing water flow to their benefit. Now with our advancing technologies we are able to create electrical power using wind and turbines. The turbines convert wind energy into electric energy by using a windmill like structure attached to an electric generator.
Wind is a clean and renewable source of energy. Because of this modern wind turbines are being installed all over the globe in hopes of lessening the need of non-renewable energy such as the burning of fossil fuels.
The modern wind turbine first started to be used around the 1930's in the United States. Interest in powering electric lighting and appliances on farms in the US led to the use of small battery charged wind turbines. The trend caught quickly and soon this new way of running things was common in homes and small businesses across the country. Today Wind turbines can generate 250 to 300 kilowatts of power, nearly 10 times the amount they could in the beginning in Europe.
The systems of the modern wind turbine consist of three components, a tower, a rotor, and a nacelle. The tower is where the wind turbine is mounted. The rotor is the component turned by the wind itself. The nacelle is the place that houses all of the equipment including, the generator, which converts the mechanical energy in the active rotor into electricity. All of these parts must be kept in top shape and be made of extremely strong materials.
The efficiency of these structures is highly dependent on the location they are set. A site with high average wind speeds will be a much better place than one that doesn't because it will be able to produce more wind energy.
Its most known process of generating electricity would be movement of air through wind turbines. Wind power has two parts, mechanical and electrical systems. Mechanical systems are low speed and are used for mechanical tasks such as pumping water or grinding grain. Electrical systems are high speed and are used to generate electricity to power homes or schools. Many people feel that wind farms full of turbines, are aesthetically unpleasing, but wind power is a clean energy source and does not generate greenhouse gas emissions. It is a very abundant resource throughout the United States. Wind power is simple, relatively cheap, and low maintenance (Sambu). Wind power is again, free and very abundant so no matter how much we use now, we will still obtain enough in the
The proposed wind farm will be built in an area known as Horseshoe Shoal, located five miles off the south shore of Cape Cod, in Nantucket Sound. Cape Wind Associates is the organization planning to build the wind farm. The farm will be visible in all areas that face the sound on Cape Cod, Nantucket and Martha’s Vineyard. The wind farm will consist of 130 wind turbines, each turbine measuring 420 feet in height, each turbine about a quarter of a mile apart, covering a 24-square mile area. If built, it will be the largest wind farm in the world.
You’ll almost always find these wind turbines in open fields and they are usually called wind farms. Because these wind turbines create so much turbulence they have to be so far apart from each other and they can’t be right behind each other (Gipe). These wind turbines have to be 200-300 feet in the air because the blades on these wind turbines are 65-130 feet long (Gipe). Also these wind turbines have to have a 17 miles per hour wind to start spinning, because a wind smaller than that won’t create enough energy
For example, gutter guards that are installed at an angle equal to that of the roof line will prove significantly more efficient than those that are
There is physics involved in these wind turbines as they change wind into mechanical energy and then into electricity. The energy produced depends on the volume of the air, the density, and the wind speed. The mass per unit time is the mass times the density times the wind speed or m = mass, p = density, A = area, and v = wind speed; m = pAV. Because the function of the wind turbine is to transform the wind’s kinetic energy into electricity the equation for kinetic energy is needed; KE = ½ mv2 or kinetic energy equals one half the mass times the velocity squared. Then, using substitution, the power in the wind depends on the density of the air, area swept out by rotors, and the cube of the velocity or ½ pAV3. Using Betz’ law the theoretical energy model for extracting 59% of the energy is power = 16/27(½ pAV3) .
The average wind on the entire site is approximately 9m/s. Wind speeds of 7.5m/s are deemed economically viable. The wind speed can vary dramatically onsite. The wind speed was very low at 3m/s when we were there and we were told on our site visit that there have being wind speeds up to 50m/s experienced on the site. To prevent any damage the turbines cut out at a certain wind speed. This is typically 25m/s for the turbines on site.
In everyday life, there are things that one needs to survive. And sustainability problems arise every day. One such problem is energy loss. The world is using up a lot of energy and new ideas need to be formed to help the rest of the world and the future of the generations that are to follow, to survive. With that the problem is that people use up energy and they do not use it efficiently. Therefore scientists are needed to find ways to deal with the sustainability problem that is arising. That is where wind turbines are used to generate this energy but the actual wind-turbines are very large, loud and they kill birds, thus new designs need to be found in order to help energy usage and to bring the size and structure of the wind turbines to a smaller scale to prevent injuries to nature and the species around it.
Wind turbines can be very useful in bringing energy into your home. They are especially useful when solar panels aren't working. They take the wind speed from oceans, lakes, dugouts, or rivers and turn it into energy. To use the wind turbines most efficiently you should set up a wind power system.
The first process in designing the wind turbine involve the calculation of the various loads expected to act on the blade surface during operating wind conditions which in turn are used to calculate the stresses and deflections. These stresses and deflections are later compared with the design stresses and deflections of the material from which the component is to be made.
Just as long as wind continues to blow and the sun shines, then wind power can produce energy to send to many different areas. There aren’t many locations that have continuous wind. And because of that, the widespread development of wind power isn’t as great as it could be. Although there are more advantages than disadvantages when it comes to this energy source, the disadvantages should be taken just as seriously. Wind power can harm animals, there was a study that stated birds were coming in contact with turbines and dying.
Winds are caused by the irregular heating of the atmosphere by the sun, the variations of the earth's surface, and rotation of the earth. This wind flow, or kinetic energy, when "harvested" by modern wind turbines, can be used to generate electricity. There is an abundance of wind to meet our needs, “the potential of [the total] wind power [in the world] is. 20 times more than what the entire human population needs” (Maehlum). Currently, wind power is one of the lowest-priced renewable energy technologies available, costing between four and six cents per kilowatt-hour, depending upon the wind resource.
Wind turbines are a great source of energy around the world. Wind turbines produce wind energy that can be used to power our homes. Wind turbines convert kinetic energy into mechanical power. Then this mechanical power gets generated into electricity. Wind turbines make energy by the wind turning the large blades, which spin a shaft that is connected to the large blades, which then operates the generator making electricity.
The Wind Turbine is a device that converts the kinetic energy of the wind into kinetic energy of turbines. The turbines turn to generate electricity but they work only when there is wind. The efficiency is 30-40%. The environmental impacts are needs many large turbines to generate electricity which can be noisy and unsightly. Turbines may endanger birds and bats.
The wind is an incredibly valuable renewable energy source and is in the forefront of renewable energy developments. It is used to convert wind energy into energy that can be harnessed and used via a variety of methods, including; wind turbines, windmills, sails and windpumps. For a renewable energy source, however, it is wind turbines that are used to generate electricity (see figure 1). Wind power has been used for this since the end of the nineteenth century, after Professor James Blyth of the Royal College of Science and Technology first attempted it (Boyle, 2012). However, It wasn’t until the 1980s that using wind power technology was sufficient enough to experience a rapid growth of the technology.
Wind is a form of solar energy. The term wind energy describes the process by which the wind is used to generate electricity or mechanical power. Wind turbines convert mechanical energy from the wind into electrical power. Wind turbines usually have three main parts. There are blades that connect to a central hub, a box behind the blades that contains the generator, and a long stem that connects to the ground. The way how it works is that the wind turns the blades, which spins a shaft that connects to a generator making electricity. After the electricity is produced it is sent through transmission lines to a substation that is sent to business and homes. For the sake of our planet, we must promote a renewable energy economy. Wind power can be a foundation of that sustainable energy future because it provides jobs in states that are building wind turbines, is a renewable energy source, and does not damage our environment. The environment will not be damaged by the pollution, the natural resources will not be used up, and there won’t be generating of hazardous wastes. Welcoming wind energy today will lay the foundation for a healthy tomorrow that will affect everyone in the United States. There are obstacles and challenges that will make it more difficult, but the environmental impact is well worth it to invest more money into wind energy.