Wind Energy Facts Offer Practical Applications of Renewable Energy
Wind energy facts from around the world in 2008 show that wind energy is being harnessed at an annual growth rate of 25%, on average. As one of the fastest growing trends for green energy, wind is becoming a significant player in the world of renewable electric energy. Exploiting the natural air currents isn’t new to this century, however. The power of wind was harnessed throughout history to power devices such as sailboats and wheel grinders. Windmills made possible the automatic grinding wheels employed by early farmers and water pumps of old.
Wind Energy Facts
Natural Wind Energy Facts: What is Wind?
Wind is created by the uneven heating of the earth’s surface and is created when air moves from high pressure areas into low pressure areas. In warmer areas, the heated air rises into the atmosphere. When this happens, cooler air rushes in to fill the void. This rushing of air is what we know as “wind”. Wind is the direct result of naturally occurring energy, such as is the case with flowing water. Both water flow and wind are produced, at least in part if not in total, by the heat from the sun.
Since the 19th century, published wind energy facts indicate that while a powerful source of energy. Just as it may be an economically positive alternative to traditional energy sources, it may have damaging effects as well. In areas of little to no long-term sustained wind speeds some generators take many years to pay for themselves. On the other hand, significant mean wind speeds can wear the equipment and cause it to malfunction or destroy it entirely if the incorrect equipment is installed.
Engineers are well aware of the dangers and carefully analyze a site’s wind energy facts before beginning development of generators. This is important wind energy fact should be considered by home and business owners who wish to convert the energy sources for private or commercial structures.
Wind Energy Facts about Generating Electricity
Because wind is a naturally occurring phenomenon that never ceases and can never be entirely consumed, it is one of the most renewable sources of energy on the planet. In fact, the only competition to wind energy in the areas of availability, cleanliness, and environmental impact while acting as a completely renewable source of energy is solar energy. But solar energy is limited to daylight hours only and more difficult to harness because of weather and solar activity. Thanks to the dedication of environmental engineers, many wind energy facts have been unveiled in the last 200 years that make wind generated power a practicable application for nearly any power requirement.
Wind energy facts published in the last two centuries prove that wind mills placed in ideal configurations at a desirable location can generate enormous amounts of power to a city or region. All electricity is created in the same way: a fuel type is used on a turbine designed for use with the fuel, the turbine drives a generator, and the generator feeds electricity into a grid. Wind energy facts demonstrate the same to be true when wind is the fuel source.
The specialized turbine is a giant “fan” affixed to a long spindle, which is seated in the generator. As wind turns the fan and spindle (together, the turbine), they create electricity inside of the generator at the base of the wind mill. Wind mills can be extremely large, such as those found on a wind farm, or moderately small such as those that may be found to power roadside billboard lights. Many other widely circulated wind energy facts that were unveiled by engineers in the 20th century make applications at any scale plausible.
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