Wind Power – Beneficial Or Harmful?

The power of wind can be extremely destructive with the hurricanes and storms but also can be extremely beneficial by converting the wind into energy we can use. Countries are starting to see how they can harness that power and turn it into energy for their homes. Wind power is basically the conversion of wind energy into a form we can use such as electricity. According to the World Wind Energy Report of 2008, wind energy put out 1.5% of the worlds electricity usage and is still growing immensely. Since 2005 it has doubled!

Wind energy as a power source is smart as an alternative to fossil fuel because of many reasons. First, the source of the energy is plentiful. With wind there is an unlimited amount of it and also it is widely distributed so people are able to receive it anywhere around the world. Plus, wind is a renewable energy source that is clean and doesn’t produce any greenhouse gas emissions against the environment. However, the obstacle with wind is it not being consistent in one area all the time. It has its burst times and then sometimes there isn’t any air blowing. It’s said that because so much power is generated by higher wind speeds most of the energy is produced during the short burst times. For example, the 2002 Lee Ranch sample said they got half their energy in just 15% of the time the turbines were operating.

Compared with other energy sources, such as fossil fuels, the environmental effects of wind power are quite small. Wind power is great in that it doesn’t put out any air pollution and doesn’t need any fuel to create the power. People are now starting to see the benefits of this and are building wind turbines at their homes to get off the dependency of the electrical company. One great benefit is that windmills can be connected to the local grid. So people can use that for their storage of the energy and displacing purchased energy with local production when it’s available. Homes are also able to be off the grid and use batteries or photovoltaic systems to hold the energy produced. This allows the residence to hold onto the energy until it is needed.

More and more people are searching to find different ways of how to build their own home wind turbine. Home owners need to first check to see which model would work best for their home. There is either the horizontal axis or the vertical axis windmill. Vertical axis would be best for homes that may have obstacles in the way since that design creates energy with little wind versus a horizontal axis. But as wind turbines become more popular the costs of building your own windmill will continue to drop to make it affordable for everyone.

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