Wind Energy Essays

For many, the mention of wind energy conjures images of giant white turbines, their blades slowly rotating, stretching off into the distance with no end in sight. This is how it has been portrayed in pictures, but this is not how wind energy truly looks. Photographs in books and magazines imply that wind energy would require these never ending fields. On the contrary, smaller fields where a limited amount of turbines create all the power needed and more for a city that is nearby, or smaller individual turbines creating enough energy for a home or neighborhood without being obtrusive, is how wind energy truly looks. Wind energy harnesses the power of the wind and converts it to other forms of energy, one of the main known forms being electricity.

In a growing world, electricity production is becoming a problem due to coal fired electrical plants releasing millions of gallons of greenhouse gases, ecological problems with pollution in water, and health risks concerning workers and people living nearby. But with new technology and advances in renewable energy sources, wind energy is becoming one of the most popular energy sources for many states.

As the global supply of fossil fuels becomes steadily lower, need is growing for new energy sources that are beneficial to the environment and cost-effective. Wind power is one solution to this need. Wind turbines require significant investment, but are cost-efficient in the long term. If construction of turbines is sufficiently increased, the wind may be able to in the future provide a very major portion of global energy.

One of the fastest growing energy sources in the world, wind power is a globally advantageous renewable resource.

Wind is air in motion, and is caused by the uneven heating of the Earth’s surface by the sun (“Wind”). Because of this, wind energy has less impact on the environment then other energy sources. Therefore, wind can produce electricity through a turbine or windmill. A wind turbine is a device that converts kinetic energy from the wind into electrical power. (“Wind Turbine”) In order for a wind turbine to work there are many properties that must be present such as: wind, wind speed, location with the right wind, as well as other characteristics that come to play such as short and long term fluctuations and the distribution of wind direction.

Have you ever driven down highway 30 in west central Iowa at night, looked out the window and seen hundreds of red flashing lights? How about driving through north Lincoln and seeing two enormous white turbines spinning in the wind? If you did not know previously, the red flashing lights at night and white turbines are windmills used for generating power. These windmills can produce 2.5 to 3 megawatts of electricity daily. Wind power can be easily used to generate electric for both personal and public use. Looking at the benefits of wind power over fossil fuels, uses of wind power for personal and public use, and the effects of global warming on wind power, you can decide if using wind energy is a good option or not.

Everyone can agree climate change is real but not everyone agrees whether it is an issue that needs solving. One side of the argument states that the rate of climate change is worrying and that this is caused by the mass burning of fossil fuels. Whatever a person 's stance on the topic is they both agree that mass use of fossil fuels are unsustainable. Research into renewable energy sources has been done at exponential rates every year. This research has led to the argument of which renewable source is the most effective. Two lead candidates for this spot is Wind and Hydropower. Each one of these sources has trade-offs when it comes to reliability, energy output, and environmental impact but both energy sources would work better together.

A wind turbine looks and works like a giant fan, but difference is turbines uses wind to make electricity, while a fan uses electricity to make wind. The size and model of a turbine depend specifically on the area in which it will be used. A turbine is made up of an 80 meter steel tower that is secured into the ground by steel rebar and concrete. Three large blades are attached to the hub, which is the center of the rotor. The hub directs energy from the blades into the generator. The energy then is transported to the nacelle. The nacelle is a container that houses the gearbox, low shaft, high speed shaft, controller, generator, and break. The blades cut through the air and distort the wind force, which can affect another turbine in another spot, so spacing is important. In one square kilometer can fit twenty wind turbines. The distance between the blades depend on size of turbines and geographical area.Wind turbines are usually 300 meters apart, or seven rotor diameters apart. Rotor diameter refers to the amount of area swept by the

“A wind turbine is a machine for converting the kinetic energy in wind into mechanical energy”. (1) The inventor of the first electric wind turbine was Clevelander Charles Brush, who ran his entire Euclid Avenue mansion off of one for 20 years, which later made the cover of Scientific American in 1888. (2) Although the use of alternate energy didn't rise a great deal afterward, this event did open the eyes for many environmentalists. Wind power is only one of our several “energy source[s] whose ‘fuel’ is free and will never be exhausted” (3) with the pros and cons not completely weighed out as to whether it will be truly beneficial or not. The two main issues regarding wind turbines are the environmental effects that they have and the

We are facing an energy crisis on Earth. Burning fossil fuels are harming the atmosphere; this global warming and affects produces chemicals that hurt our body. People are starting to think about using alternative energy. Wind power would be our first choice, because it’s clean, inexhaustible and renewable. Today, wind power is mainly used in Europe. We believed wind power would be the main source of alternative energy for world use.

The topic of this literature review is wind power and hydropower. The purpose is discovering how wind power and hydropower influences the world and our lives.“Environmental science is the study of the interaction of the living and nonliving components of the environment with special emphasis on the impact of humans on these components. (Hartwick, What is Environmental Science?)

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.

Deal, 2010, ‘Wind Power: An Emerging Energy Resource’, Technology and Engineering Teacher, pp. 9-15, viewed on September 12, 2011, retrieved from: http://search.proquest.com/docview/853062621/fulltextPDF/13255EC175479D10C7A/1?accountid=42518

Wind power is a clean and renewable energy that, while at times unreliable, has very low upkeep cost and is growing at a rapid rate. While there is currently enough wind power to provide many times our current energy need, it is unfeasible in reality. Wind power utilizes the kinetic energy of air and uses it to power a generator to produce electricity. Even though dependence on wind power is impossible, it still can provide a strong, clean, quantity of power to supplement current energy production.

Bilen et al., (2008:1531) predicted that global energy consumption will account for around 85% of the increase in world primary demand over 2002– 2030. The increasing of global energy demand happens the global stock of fossil fuel resources may be adequate for short term period, thus requiring the development of renewable energy sources, which would not decrease the stock of fossil fuel resources available for future generation. There is an increasing interest in the development of renewable energies such as biofuel and wind power, which have a great potential energy to produce enough power for the world’s population demand.