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How often do you think of where you get your electricity? How our cars are able to work, and how our houses are heated in the wintertime to keep us warm? There are many different types of renewable energy, but how often do we use them? Wind energy is probably Kansans best bet of creating the energy we need to prosper. By looking at the pros of renewable energy sources, the pros of wind energy in Kansas, and the efficiency of vertical axis wind turbines to the horizontal axis, we’ll discover this together. Why don’t we use more renewable energy sources? What role do they currently play? According to Energy Kids, in 2008 renewable resources only produced seven percent of the energy that we used. One reason we don’t use a lot of renewable energy …show more content…
As most people know, Kansas is a windy state. Every day the wind is blowing. So how can wind energy, be more beneficial than solar power? Taking a look at the difference between solar and wind energy in Kansas will help us see that Kansans can benefit more from wind energy than solar.
Kansas is not the hottest or the sunniest state in the United States. So how would we here in Kansas really benefit from solar energy? “Because the sun doesn’t deliver that much energy to any one place at any one time, a large surface area is required to collect the energy at a useful rate” (Energy Sources). According to American Wind Energy Association, nine of the eleven American solar power plants are in California. So the leading places in the U.S. are on the western end of America. Also, solar power isn’t a reliable source for Kansans because the sun doesn’t shine every day.
Wind energy, on the other hand, is where Kansas excels. According to American Wind Energy Association the central states through Kansas and down to Texas are the leading states in wind energy (Wind Energy and Wildlife). We are the windiest states of America, so we would gain more from wind energy than solar
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Every so often workers have to go up the tower and unwind the wire that is located in the generator at the top of the tower (Campbell). The reason they have to unwind the wire is so the wind turbine can turn into the wind to create energy. These wind turbines only rotate one way, they don’t rotate both ways, so after a while the wire turning the wind turbine tightens and the wind turbine is unable to turn anymore. So the workers have to go up to the generator of the wind turbine and unwind the wire manually (Campbell). Also, with all the wiring and gears up in the generator, workers have to go up the ladder which is found on the inside of a turbine, and check to make sure everything is alright (Gipe).
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
Not only is wind energy better than fossil fuel energy, it is also better than other new energy sources. “Wind costs are much more competitive with other generating technologies because there is no fuel to purchase and minimal operating expenses” (Wind Energy Basics 3). And as for the environmental concerns of bird population, the American Wind Energy Association said, “the modern wind turbine is far less harmful to birds than are radio towers, tall buildings, airplanes and vehicles and numerous other manmade objects. Bird deaths due to wind development will never be more than a very small fraction to those caused by other commonly accepted human activities” (Parks 58).
The concern is that the windmills will be on ancient Narragansett land, similar to the concerns of the Wampanoag and Cape Wind. With the assistance of the University of Rhode Island and the Narragansett, Deepwater Wind is conducting tests to determine if there are any ancient artifacts that are located at the planed windmill sites. Due to the Cape Wind fiasco, companies wanting to construct new energy sites are required to complete a site survey in order to receive their permits and to ensure that historical sites are not damaged. Though Deepwater Wind has not found any artifacts off the coast of Block Island, they have adjusted placements of windmills and cables due to what could have been stone tools (McDermott,
Renewable energy is the future, and we should embrace it. The planet we live on is teeming with so many untapped renewable energy sources. These include energy from the sun, water, wind, geothermal sources, and even biomass sources such as the use of ethanol from corn. (Renewable Energy Sources in the United States) While these are all great sources of alternative energy, I want to focus mainly on solar energy. My question is why aren’t more of our cars, homes, and businesses running on solar power? Many other countries have started to use several if not all of these renewable energy sources, yet we have barely begun to tap into the very tip of the iceberg when it comes to renewable energy. So why are we, United States of America as a whole, still stuck in the old world thinking of non-renewable fossil fuels? We have a very bright future ahead of us indeed if we simply pick up the pace on even only one of the many renewable sources.
Wind Energy is a viable industry that has become a valuable energy source. The energy generated from wind is clean and efficient. The wind energy industry helps to ensure that electric demands are met, wildlife impact is minimal, the environment is not devastated, as well as creates new jobs during the construction of wind farms, daily operations, manufacturing components, and exporting components to foreign countries.
Solar and wind energy are not consistent with producing energy if there is no sun or wind just like finding fuel is not consistent with electric vehicles because so little places have electric pumps.
The United States currently relies heavily on coal, oil, and natural gas for its energy. While the price of natural gas per barrel continues to plummet, the United States is constantly seeking new sources of renewable energy. Renewable energy consists of any type of natural resource (solar power, ocean power, wind power, rain, snow, etc.). that naturally and automatically replenishes itself. Renewable energy is important because it is infinite and everlasting, meaning our children and our children’s children will be able to utilize these resources long after we are gone.
Our country is currently suffering energy-wise, we have been powering with inefficient sources for years now and the harm that it is doing to the country has started to become apparent. Renewable energy is the only way to stop, or at the very least, set back the inevitable downfall of our ecosystem. I think that the next big breakthrough for renewable energy is implementing off-grid communities that use renewable sources as their main sources of power, so that we can potentially escape the energy rut that we got ourselves stuck in. America is wasting their finite resources, such as coal and nuclear, when we could actually be using renewable sources that will never run out. Most of our country’s citizens have never thought about where their energy comes from, or they do not even care.
I have already written about the obvious benefits of going solar. There are other benefits as well that decrease the impact on our earth over time. Solar panels and battery banks have a life of 25-35 years and don't need anything more than general cleaning, snow removal and monthly water filling. Solar energy is the cleanest and purest form of energy, allowing for cleaner air overall in our environment. There is great hope for a lot more solar panels to be installed worldwide.
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.
Secondly, 15% of world electricity comes from wind. In order to have wind energy, it is important to have turbines to get the wind in order to produce electricity. Tall turbines produce more energy. The drawbacks of wind power are that it requires steady wind and its installations may interfere with TVs, cellphones, and other electrical devices. However, it is quickly built and there is no pollution or noise produced.
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.
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.
Using fossil fuels such as coal and oil is inefficient, dangerous, and otherwise a process that is known to eventually fail as a long lasting energy source. Yet, there is hope for the future of energy, this new hope has many shapes and forms, but requires a chance to be fully implemented in our everyday life. Such energy sources like solar energy, wind energy, geothermal energy, and hydro power are the key to our future. These energy sources are proven to be long lasting, safe, more reliable, and the next innovation. In short, all Americans should switch to renewable energy, resulting in a safer and more efficient world.