Wind - A Renewable Energy Source

Wind - A Renewable Energy Source

Wind is called a renewable energy source because wind will continually be produced as long as the sun shines on the earth. The sun’s contribution to wind energy deals with converting air into heat or cool wind. Wind is produced by the irregular heating of the earth’s surface by the sun. On land, the warm air spreads and goes up in the sky, in the water, heavier and cooler air moves in to take the warm air’s place, thus providing local winds. This power source should be used more often in the United States for its safer standards regarding the environment and finance.

To capture this wind, turbines are used to convert the renewable resource into electricity. The energy in motion or kinetic energy is then mechanically processed. Windmills are used in the United States amongst other countries in the world. They are used to heat water, refrigerate produce, dry crops, irrigate crops, heat buildings, and charge batteries for tractors on farms, etc. Most of today's windmills extract about 30 % of the wind's energy (www.earthsci.org). Windmills are just as efficient as coal; the difference between them is that air is less polluting than coal.

Unfortunately there is no such thing as a 100 percent efficient power source. “For a completely efficient source of energy, the power plants have to run all day and all year without interruption” (www.eia.doe.gov). To do the fact that in order to convert electricity, windmills depend ...