Uses of Wind Energy

By: Beau Brannan & Katherine Timmerman

Wind Energy

• Wind Energy can be converted into mechanical or electrical energy, from the kinetic energy within the wind. Wind energy is a indefinitely sustainable energy source and produces no pollutants.

• Early Uses of Wind Energy: Windmills that were used to grind grain.

• Modern Uses of Wind Energy: Generation of Electricity and Water Pumping.

• The machines used to extract the energy from the wind are called wind turbines.

• Wind Power is the world’s fastest growing energy resource. The average growth of wind energy was 22% per year during the 1990s and more than $2 billion in sales of wind turbines in 2000. In 2000, wind turbines worldwide produced almost 15,000 megawatts of electricity, enough for 5.2 million homes.

• The price of electricity produced by wind is falling. Between 1980 and 2000 the price fell from 40 cents to 3.5-5 cents per kilowatt-hour. Which makes wind energy the country’s cheapest way to produce electricity.

Wind Power in the U.S.

• Midwestern U.S. is the “Saudi Arabia of wind”.

• The Dakotas and Texas alone have enough wind resources to meet all the nation’s electricity needs.

• Individuals can also use small wind turbines to supply some or all of their electricity needs.

Worldwide Wind Power

• The Global potential for wind power has barely been tapped. Inland China’s Inner Mongolia has enough wind resources to provide all the country’s electricity, and England also has an enormous potential supply of wind resources. Denmark has more than 8% of its electricity from wind power. Denmark is the world’s largest user of wind and producer of wind turbines. Wind power is also being developed rapidly in Germany (the worlds third largest user of wind power), Spain, and India (the world’s number two market for wind energy).

Uses of Wind Power

• In the long run, electricity from large wind farms in remote areas might be used to make hydrogen gas from water during off peak periods. The hydrogen could then be fed into a pipeline and storage system.

Advantages

• High Efficiency• Moderate Capital Costs• Moderate to high net Energy• Low Electricity Costs• Very low Environmental Impact• No CO2 Emissions• Quick Construction• Easily Expanded

Disadvantages

• Steady Winds Needed

• Backup Systems when needed winds are low

• High land use for wind farm

• Visual Pollution

• Noise when located near Populated Areas

• May interfere in Flights of migratory birds and kill birds of prey

Sources

• http://www.daviddarling.info/encyclopedia/W/AE_wind_energy.html

• “Living in the Environment”/Twelfth Edition/ G. Tyler Miller, Jr.

• www.google.com/images