Wind Energy Voice

When thinking about wind power, there are several advantages and disadvantages that can sway you to either use or not use it. Some of the advantages of wind power include that it’s a natural resource therefore making it free and friendly to the environment not harming or depleting the ozone layer. No fossil fuels have to be burned so that we may generate electricity.

Because of the fact that wind turbines only take up a few meters of space, they are a lot better for space compared to power plants leaving more room for the environment and agriculture or for the land to be used for other purposes. Win turbines are also a better resource to use in remote locations like the mountains or the country side. They can come in many different sizes so that they may accommodate different levels of population.

Finally another great thing about wind power is that you can combine it with solar power and upon doing this they can be a source of energy for developed and developing countries. Now as stated above although wind power has many advantages it also has several disadvantages. Such as wind power is unreliable, you’re never sure just exactly how much power you are going to get therefore making solar energy a better alternative sometimes. The construction of a wind turbine can last a long time about a year to be exact and can be quite costly. One of the biggest disadvantages is the fact that they create a lot of noise which is fine if u live a few miles away but not so good if you’re closer to the turbine.

So altogether there are many advantages and disadvantages to whether or not wind turbines are truly effective mechanisms to use to create energy

Technorati Tags: advantages, Disadvantages, power, wind

Wind power, or wind energy, is a renewable resource; it is from the sun. The advantages of wind power are many, including practical, environmental as well as economic. There are also disadvantages to using windpower, such as the natural variability of wind, the competition for other land uses, and bird deaths.

wind power, or wind energy, is a renewable resource; it is from the sun. The intensity of solar radiation differs across the globe. Some areas receive intense amounts of sunlight, while others receive much less. The result is a temperature gradient; a gradient which is mediated by the flow of air to and from areas of dissimilar temperatures and pressure systems in our atmosphere. Uneven heating of the earth’s atmosphere,

in addition to irregularities on the earth’s surface and the rotation of the earth create wind. Terrain, water bodies, and vegetation then shape flow patterns.

The recent history of wind power in the United States has a similar impetus to that of alternative fuel sources in general – it was an idea borne from the 1970′s Oil Crisis. It does, however, have a more extensive history reaching back into to late 19th century in the colonization of the American West; millions of windmills were erected for irrigation and cattle purposes to facilitate the growing number of farms and ranches. Many soon feel into disrepair as inexpensive energy sources became more widespread and grid power extended its reach into rural areas used small electric wind systems.

Outside of the US, however, wind power has a broader history. In fact, there was evidence that boats were propelled along the Nile as early as 5000BC via wind energy. China used wind for pumping water several millennium ago.

Wind is harnessed to make mechanical power or electricity. The kinetic energy from the wind is converted through various different processes to create mechanical energy that can be used in lieu of fossil fuels. There are two types of modern turbines – horizontal and vertical axis, both of which work similar to one another and as decried above. Between the two types, they come in an array of sizes from small 100 watt units for single homes to much larger or ones (with a blade diameter greater than 50m). These larger turbines can generate 1 MW of electricity.

The most common used today are horizontal axis turbines with three blades (15-30m in diameter) and produce approximately 50-350 kW of electricity. Often wind turbines are grouped together; the arrangement in called a wind farm that provides energy to an electrical grid.

Vertical axis turbines are more efficient in areas with vast amount of lands and moderate wind speeds. Current technology is looking to develop different turbine types for different areas of wind speed given the amount of land available for farms.

The advantages of wind power are many, including practical, environmental as well as economic. Worldwide, the total kinetic energy contained in wind is more than 80 times that of human energy consumption. While only a fraction of this can be used for electricity purposes, the potential-given future technological developments is great.

Environmental advantages include the fact that a renewable source of clean, nonpolluting energy curbs the demand and use of fossil fuels and emit no air pollution of greenhouse gases, In the US, wind plants have offset the emission of than 2.5 billion pounds of carbon dioxide, and 15 million pounds of other pollutants. Also, wind energy is free: the cost of installation and maintenance has dramatically decreased in recent years and future technology ensures only a continual decrease in the prices. As a result, the lifetime investment is much lower than most fossil-fuel systems.

One of the primary disadvantages to wind power is the natural variability of wind in any given locale. Indeed there are certain areas with extremely high average wind speeds, but in most places, wind exposure is quite variable. Wind energy can only be stored with a battery, otherwise it is not. In the latter case, not all energy demands can be met through the natural timing of winds. For these reasons, it may not be a viable option for some. One other disadvantage is the competition for other – more highly valued and profit generating – land uses.

Economic disadvantages include the fact that the initial investment is often higher than fossil fuel systems. The higher costs is mostly due to the machinery which is involves. Other costs include site preparation and installation. The primary environmental drawbacks to wind power are as follows: Noise pollution via the rotor blades Aesthetic impacts (“visual pollution”), and bird deaths.

It is important to keep in mind that many of these problems have been resolved with increasing technology. Avian mortality, however, is still being studied.

Technorati Tags: advantages, Disadvantages, power, wind

There are Advantages and Disadvantages for Building Your Own Wind Energy System. Discover What They Are!

Like any other form of energy, wind energy has immediate and obvious advantages but also some drawbacks. Therefore any decision to install wind energy generators must take into account these different factors.

Wind machines and wind turbines can effectively generate energy as electricity for free as long as the wind is available. Because wind is free and renewable, wind turbines generate clean and renewable energy, which already gives it an immense advantage compared to be contaminating fossil fuel plants that have already done so much damage to the earth’s ecology. In addition modern technology means that wind turbines can automatically adjust their blades to maximize the use of wind even if the direction changes.

In different parts of the U.S., large wind energy installations are being created. In Texas for example the Horse Hollow wind energy center is already powering more than 220,000 homes in the neighborhood. This is done through the 421 wind turbines that are in the park. In addition to this, testing of wind turbines and wind machines can be done in places such as the wind park just off the coast of Cape Cod in Massachusetts. It is the first of its kind and likely to be a forerunner of many others.

The immense advantage of wind power that many people see is its cheapness once the initial installation has been made and the fact that using it does not depend on any imported fuel. This is a big advantage compared to fossil fuels such as oil, which the U.S. imports heavily from other countries and therefore must pay for with a considerable part of the national budget.

Wind energy therefore is independent of any particular producer and available to anyone in the country who wishes to use it. Because it is not generated by any particular mechanism specific to any particular country, but rather by the overall effect of the sun’s rays falling on our planet and the way that the earth continually turns on its axis, wind energy is therefore a truly democratic means of generating electricity.

The cost of electricity for wind turbines can be as little as 4 to 6 cents per kilowatt-hour. In making this calculation it is necessary to take into account the financing for the initial installation of the project and also the site selection in terms of the amount of wind available and therefore the amount of electricity that can be generated. However together with other renewable energy of such as solar energy wind energy is one of the cheapest forms of renewable energy anywhere on earth.

In farms and ranches where wind is abundantly available, wind turbine towers can be installed to satisfy a continual demand for low cost electricity. Individual power suppliers also come to business arrangements with farmers renting a few square yards of land to be able to erect towers and generate electricity.

It is perhaps the initial cost of wind turbines, which is the main factor in any financial calculation. Although the initial cost has been reduced over the years, it is still a major factor in terms of installing wind turbines compared with conventional generators. For this reason fossil fuel may still attract investment for some cases.

wind power is also clearly dependent on the availability of the wind itself. Sites need to be chosen where there is as continual a supply of wind as possible. It should also be remembered that natural phenomena such as tsunamis can have dramatic effects on the weather patterns of any area and therefore of the wind supply and velocity.

Because wind parks need a lot of wind and because towns and cities are often constructed in more sheltered areas there is also the problem of making such renewable energy available to city dwellers. Often the installation of electric cables to carry the electricity from the source to the destination is not a profitable activity.

Environmentally, wind turbines to need to make progress in terms of both their appearance, which can be a blot on the landscape and also the noise that they make. Environmentalists are concerned that the harm of the wind turbines may be a distinct disturbing factor on the surrounding ecology.