Wind power is a form of solar energy. Wind is created by unequal heating and cooling of the earth from the solar energy. The energy from the sun heats up the earth causing warmer air to rise. As this occurs, cooler air rushes in to replace the warmer air creating wind. Wind energy can be generated into electricity producing natural power using wind turbines. Wind turbines convert the kinetic energy in the wind into mechanical power which can be converted by a generator into electricity. This energy generated by the wind is considered renewable energy. This means that the source of power is naturally replenished. The renewable energy is natural and continuous in the environment.
Wind has been used for energy for thousands of years. Throughout time many historical applications have used the wind to generate a specific task. For example, sails of a ship use the wind to propel themselves across the ocean. Another example is windmills which have been used for grinding grain and pumping water. The earliest known applications of wind used as an energy source came from Persia around 900AD. There, the wind was used to drive early windmills. Prior to the Industrial Revolution, wind power was used by the Europeans as a significant source of energy for. As time passed, use of wind as energy lost favor because it was not always available when it was needed, and it was difficult to distribute. “The first wind turbines for electricity generation appeared in the late nineteenth century in the United States.” “Modern wind turbines are several hundred feet tall.” For example, “a wind turbine that generates 1.6 mega-walls of electrical power is approximately 113 meters tall from its base to the tip of the rotor blade.” Wind turbines must be pla...
... middle of paper ...
...hore wind farms are placed beyond visible and audible ranges of many populated areas. Off shore winds tend to be stronger and smoother than on land. Offshore wind farms are also not affected by topographic features such as mountains, valleys, and skylines. In the United States, the coastal areas are perfect wind conditions. One particular concern to offshore wind farms is the cost of transporting large, heavy components to isolated parts of the country.
Overall wind energy is a renewable energy resource that is natural occurring with unlimited supply. Wind energy has very little adverse effects on the environment. As technologies increase, the cost of wind energy will continue to decrease. There are many advantages and disadvantages to wind power. In the near future, hopefully the many disadvantages will become obsolete and wind energy will become more popular.
Even without subsidies, there are many advantages to using wind power. Wind energy does not put pollution into the air, unlike power plants that rely on fossil fuels, such as natural gas or coal. http://energy.gov/eere/wind/advantages-and-challenges-wind-energy
Wind power is another form of solar power. Wind isn’t only a clean fuel source, but it is one of the most inexpensive e alternative sources of energy. Just as long 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. For many people the noise from the turbines is unbearable, and that’s something else that should be taken into
Wind energy can play a critical role in saving our planet from the negative effects of energy powered by fossil fuels. Wind turbines work effectively at reducing carbon dioxide emissions. For instance, a single utility scale wind turbine can prevent the emission of 5,000 tons of CO2 into the atmosphere a year by displacing the power generated by fossil fuels. Also, a single 750-kilowatt turbine can produce roughly 2 million kilowatt hours of electricity annually. Turbines of this nature are the ones now being used in power plants around the world (Wind Energy Weekly). One good example is California. Their wind power plants displace 4.5 billion pounds of CO2 each year with the 3 billion kilowatt hours of energy they produce. To put it into an environmental perspective, that is as much CO2 as could be absorbed by a forest covering 1100 square miles (Wind Energy Weekly). Although wind energy has little to no impact on the environment when it comes to air pollution or greenhouse gases, there are other environmental concerns surrounding this form of energy production. Some of the concerns about wind energy include visual impacts, birds and other living resources, lightning and noise (Wind Energy Development).
Wind power has an expansive future according to experts. In the 1990's wind energy was the fastest growing source of electricity in the world. However, the majority of this growth has been in Europe. This is where government policies and high conventional energy costs favor the use of wind energy. The U.S. Department of energy recently announced that it hopes to power at least 5% of the nation's electricity with wind by 2020. The department also wants to increase federal use of wind energy to 5% by 2010.
Now-a-days the handling of “Electricity” has been increased rapidly. Due to this the “Fossil Fuels” are getting extinguished day-to-day. So we need to choose for an alternate source of energy that is Renewable Source. Among the Renewable Sources “Wind Energy” is one of them.
A lot of cultures have taken advantage of wind energy for hundreds of decades. It was used when sails were incorporated to navigate the River Nile in 5000BC and Persians used -windmills in 500AD so that they could pump water and grind grain. Now-a-days, wind energy is being realized as one of the “most promising new energy sources” and is going to be an important alternative in years to come.
In the early 1980s, a new market for wind systems started which is called “wind farms”. As well as, with emphasis on renewable energy, more wind farms will be built, but for most countries this is still not realistic.
Wind energy has been around for a very long time, as early as 5,000 B.C.. It has even been historically utilized by the Egyptians, Dutch, Persians, and more. Wind energy is known as an alternative source of energy, which is any form of energy that does not harm our environment or diminish any natural sources. Wind energy is renewable, is not expensive, and is a clean source of energy that does not produce any pollution. Wind energy is the best form of energy there is.
One side of wind turbines are that the Wind turbine farms are located in areas where people live. Some people think wind turbines are visual pollutants. The wind is unpredictable and never really constant, therefore it’s not reliable source for energy. If the wind is not blowing, they will not generate power. Just like Solar panels, wind turbines are not c...
The generation of wind can be traced back to solar energy. It is ultimately a renewable and clean energy source. This is what makes it attractive to many as a source of energy for power plants.
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.
First and foremost, unlike power plants that rely on combustion of fossil fuels, wind turbines do not produce atmospheric emissions. Strangely enough, wind is a form of solar energy. 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
In case of vertical axis wind turbines the main rotor shaft is vertical with respect to the ground. The major advantage of these turbines is that they work well even in turbulent wind conditions as they do not need to be pointed directly at the wind. Therefore, they are widely adopted in residential areas.
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.
Wind power is one of the most sustainable ways of generating electricity as no toxic emissions are produced; it does not add to global warming and is one of the most available sources of renewable energy and theoretically it is an infinite source of energy. On sufficiently windy areas, wind turbines are one of the most economical methods of generating electricity, which makes it appealing to many individuals, governments and organizations. Due to this it is the fastest growing source of electricity in the world (Union of Concerned Scientists, 2014) with a 10% increase in yearly additions installed in 2012 compared with 2011 (Global Wind Energy Council, 2012). However the proportion of energy that can be harnessed through wind power is restricted by the cost of the infrastructure needed, construction, the amount of wind that occurs and that there are only a narrow number of sites within the UK that are windy enough for the wind turbines to be worth installing.