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Five Wind Energy Advantages to Think About
Author: dedi
Fossil based energy sources like coal and oil have contributed much to the present state of degraded environment. It is now time to look for renewable and more environment-friendly sources. Along with solar power, wind power provides clean and healthy source of electricity. Reduction in the use of conventional energy can help a lot in arresting the worsening of global climate change.
2. Cheap
Wind energy is cheap. Average cost per kilowatt-hour is pegged at 5 cents; by far the cheapest, among all kinds energy, be it conventional or renewable. Generation cost is stable since wind is not very likely to stop blowing and with more advanced and bigger wind power generators, the cost can only go lower. Savings on electricity bills is substantial and electricity bills can be eliminated altogether with a unit large enough to allow getting off the grid. You only have minimal maintenance expenses to worry about. This is probably the most important of the many wind energy advantages.
3. Easy to build and maintain
Wind power technology is simple and cheap. There is no need for complicated and expensive machinery requiring special and round-the-clock maintenance. Materials needed to construct the wind power unit are readily available in local hardware stores as well.
4. A source of additional Income
A windmill is truly an investment because aside from the potential savings in electricity bills, it can also generate income. Excess energy generated by the unit can be sold to power companies. The government can also rent some land from farmers where wind power generators can be put up to supply electricity requirements of rural areas.
5. Helps maintain a healthy economy
The boost it will give the economy is another of the many wind energy advantages. Less money spent on electricity bills means that people have more money to spend on other things, thereby stimulating production. Moreover, it will reduce dependence on conventional energy, especially on oil. Time and again, the erratic movements of oil supply and prices have resulted to economic crises.
When you are looking for a way to reduce your power bills, think of the many wind energy advantages before deciding.
Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/diy-articles/five-wind-energy-advantages-to-think-about-2869799.html
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How does a wind turbine work? what are some advantages of wind energy?( need 10 advantages)?
Um…….. Also i don’t need disadvantages and history so please don’t just paste something from a site cause I really need this for robotics so don’t want to spend too much time on reading. Thanks!
HELP! What are 6-8 advantages and disadvantages of using wind and geothermal energy?
I need 6-8 advantages and disadvantages of using wind and geothermal energy. If you can help me, explain how to generate wind energy. THANK YOU
What are advantages/ disadvantages of wind energy?
doing a project and i need 3 advantanges and 3 disadvantages of wind energy!
What are some disadvantages and advantages of wind power/energy compared to other sources of energy?
Like geo-thermal energy,solar power
What are really great advantages to Wind energy?
Also, if you can. Some disadvantages countered… Example
Wind energy kills bird, yes but not many etc
Advantages
1. Wind energy is fueled by the wind, so it’s a clean fuel source. Wind energy doesn’t pollute the air like power plants that rely on combustion of fossil fuels, such as coal or natural gas. Wind turbines don’t produce atmospheric emissions that cause acid rain or greenhouse gasses.
2. Wind energy is a domestic source of energy, produced in the United States. The nation’s wind supply is abundant.
3. Wind energy relies on the renewable power of the wind, which can’t be used up. Wind is actually a form of solar energy; winds are caused by the heating of the atmosphere by the sun, the rotation of the earth, and the earth’s surface irregularities.
4. Wind energy is one of the lowest-priced renewable energy technologies available today, costing between 4 and 6 cents per kilowatt-hour, depending upon the wind resource and project financing of the particular project.
5. Wind turbines can be built on farms or ranches, thus benefiting the economy in rural areas, where most of the best wind sites are found. Farmers and ranchers can continue to work the land because the wind turbines use only a fraction of the land. Wind power plant owners make rent payments to the farmer or rancher for the use of the land.
Disadvantages
1. Wind power must compete with conventional generation sources on a cost basis. Depending on how energetic a wind site is, the wind farm may or may not be cost competitive. Even though the cost of wind power has decreased dramatically in the past 10 years, the technology requires a higher initial investment than fossil-fueled generators.
2. The major challenge to using wind as a source of power is that the wind is intermittent and it does not always blow when electricity is needed. Wind energy cannot be stored (unless batteries are used); and not all winds can be harnessed to meet the timing of electricity demands.
3. Good wind sites are often located in remote locations, far from cities where the electricity is needed. Transmission lines must be built to bring the electricity from the wind farm to the city.
4. Wind resource development may compete with other uses for the land and those alternative uses may be more highly valued than electricity generation.
5. Although wind power plants have relatively little impact on the environment compared to other conventional power plants, there is some concern over the noise produced by the rotor blades, aesthetic (visual) impacts, and sometimes birds have been killed by flying into the rotors. Most of these problems have been resolved or greatly reduced through technological development or by properly siting wind plants.
All you ever wanted to know about wind energy is located at http://www.otherpower.com
Good Luck
Wind energy is generated from wind turbines which are structuyres with blades that get presented to wind. The energy in the wind moves the blades which turn an electric generator.
Goethermal uses the heat in the Earth to het water making stem whih is used to turn a steam turbine which turn an electric generator.
Electric generators convert mechanical energy to electrical energy by the motion of loops of wire passing through a magnetic field.
Advantages of both:
Renewable/large source of energy. Wind is created by weather and the molten core of the Earth is huge.
Clean. No fuel is burned during generation of electricity. The energy required to build the devices is small compared to the energy generated over the life of the device.
Safe. Unlike nuclear, there is no hazardous waste or risk of raditation leaking.
“Free” – We do not import the source of energy from other countries which lowers our dependence on foreign oil.
No impact to food production – unlike bio-fuels, wind and geothermal do not burden our agriculture production.
Disadvantages:
Wind is unreliable. Wind farms are built in windy areas to increase the production. Since it is dependent on the weather – there is no way for humans to control it.
Wind farms are considered ugly – a blight on the areas where they are built.
Wind farms harm migratory birds.
Cost – currently the cost is higher per kWh to produce wind energy and geothermal. However, as the price of oil continues to climb and the world’s oil reserves are depleted, it becomes more attaractive economically.
Location – Geothermal and wine must be located at the “source” of the energy. The energy must be converted to electricity for transmission. Since many cities rely on oil or gas fired generation plants in their locale, the geothermal and wind are more supplementary than primary sources for electricity (nuclear and hydro-dynamic suffer the same issue. Since oil can be transported by ship and/or truck, and natural gas pipelines are all over the nation, it is easier to locate the generation near the demand).
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Wiind power has a number of advantages and provides an inexpensive, self-reliant method of generating electricity with relatively little maintenance.
However, there are some disadvantages with regard to birds, thunderstorms, and the appearance of turbines. It is not always windy, so a combination of solar and/or hydroelectric with wind power can provide a more consistent supply of renewable energy.
ADVANTAGES
1. The use of wind turbines does not generate pollution or radioactive waste like most other forms of electricity generation do. Their construction and installation has less environmental impact as well.
2. Wind power may be used to provide electricity to individual homes or other facilities on a self-reliant basis, with no need for fuel or other materials to be supplied. If a natural disaster severs power lines, residents with windmills will not lose their supply of electricity.
3. Wind can also generate power for large numbers of people, using larger turbines connected to an electrical grid. This allows individuals to take advantage of some of their benefits without personally owning or maintaining the equipment.
4. Another one of its advantages is that this type of power generation does not consume any non-renewable resources, like coal, natural gas, or oil. Thus, it won’t contribute to their eventual depletion, nor does it promote environmental harm brought about by obtaining these resources.
DISADVANTAGES
1. Some people consider the turbines to have an undesirable appearance, especially when there are very tall units and/or large groups of them. The same could be said for coal or nuclear power plants, but these are concentrated into a smaller number of facilities.
2. Another of the disadvantages is that they can be damaged in thunderstorms, partially because of their tall, thin shape. The website of the National Lightning Safety Institute indicates that most damage to wind turbines is caused by lightening. This is more of a problem in warmer parts of the world, where they are frequent.
3. The blades of wind turbines can hit birds who attempt to fly between them. However, it should be kept in mind that birds are also affected by the disadvantages of other power generation methods, especially pollution.
4. Some turbines produce noise; according to a white paper issued by the University of Massachusetts at Amherst Renewable Energy Research Laboratory, noise varies from one turbine to the next, and is more likely to be problematic when the wind speed is low.
Hope this will give you some ideas in regards to your project. Good luck!
Advantages:
- There are no carbon equivalent (CO2e) greenhouse gas emissions once the wind turbine is built, although some are produced in manufacturing and installing the wind turbines.
- Wind has a lower cost per installed megawatt (MW) of generation capacity than some other types of renewable generation (e.g. solar, biomass).
- Wind is a mature and established generation technology, which is widely accepted by energy utility companies (compared with emerging technologies such as biomass gasification/cogeneration, which have more technical risk).
Disadvantages:
- Wind power still has a higher cost per installed MW of capacity than some conventional energy sources (e.g. coal, hydro).
- Power production is intermittent, depending on wind speed (this is also true of solar and marine renewable generation). This means that generation utilities have to either have backup generation (e.g. gas peaking plant), demand reduction systems (e.g. hot water ripple control) or hedging arrangements with other utilities in place to ensure they can deliver power to consumers and maintain the required power quality for the grid.
- Sites that make good wind farm locations (places with bare land and strong, steady wind flow) often are in remote places a long way from major electricity grid connection sites. This means there can be substantial added costs to connect generation sites to the grid.
Comparisons with Geothermal & Solar:
- Geothermal power production is a well established technology (over 100 years old) and can provide high levels of baseload (steady supply) power in large volumes.
- There are a limited number of sites suitable for geothermal power development, even in countries with plenty of geothermal activity (e.g. Italy, New Zealand, Philippines). Not all geothermal wells are suitable for commercial development because a combination of large reservoir, high heat and high pressure is needed to make power in most cases.
- There are companies developing more efficient geothermal technologies (e.g. Ormat) that allow smaller, lower heat or lower pressure wells to be developed.
- The direct heat from geothermal can also be used for industrial processes (e.g. woodpulp processing, timber drying and food processing).
- Geothermal power typically has large startup costs (tens to hundreds of millions of dollars) and for this reason is usually only undertaken by large energy utilities.
Solar:
- Solar has been used for around 30 years in commercial applications (e.g. backup power for telecommunications sites) but has only grown into the mass market in the last ten years or so.
- The cost of making photovoltaic (solar power) panels continues to drop with mass production and competition. Also, new technologies such as concentrating solar thermal and thin-film photovoltaic panels are increasing the choices available to users.
- The solar power market is splitting into two areas: utility solar plant (10MW+) and distributed solar, which includes small rooftop and community installations.