Thereâs reason to be convinced about future stake of wind energy. This perennial power source is environment friendly, available in abundance and certainly renewable. Hence, there is no second thought that wind has the highest potential to feed the power needs of future. Wind has been used as power source since 5000 years but it was introduced to modern world in 1919, by German scientist, Albert Betz, who presented wind energy theory. Since past century, till date wind energy has made exponential progress, but still long way to go in order to achieve full potential.
To generate wind energy huge turbines work in open windy fields to grab air from atmosphere and convert them into power. Wind turbine does opposite of what a normal fan does. The generated energy is stored and supplied for domestic and industrial purposes. Hereâs a listing of facts about wind energy that every one should know.
1. Wind energy is nothing but solar power.
It is the sun and its impact on earth that determines wind speed, direction and wind region. Due to uneven heating of earth surface and its continuous rotation wind is generated. Wind speed and direction is dependent on many factors like topography, air pressure, vegetation and water. Winds move from high pressure areas to low pressure regions. Coastal regions have good wind speed but it has its own lacuna of weather unpredictability.
2. Wind energy is pollution free means of power generation.
Not many are aware of the fact that wind is most clean power source. One mega watt wind energy production reduces 2600 tons of carbon dioxide emission. This one MW can light up to 400 homes without releasing any Carbon. Besides reducing the burden on fossil fuel, wind energy also saves 1293 million gallon water.
3. Wind energy source is perennial and free.
Wind is natureâs free gift as long as we can maintain ecological balance and do not cause upheaval in nature. So the source of wind energy is free unlike coal and petroleum which are depleting fast. It is long term source of energy and is available with reliability. As long as ecology will survive, we can continuously generate power from wind.
4. Wind energy is economically competitive.
Wind, being one of the cheapest renewable energy, is economically apt. High construction cost of wind turbines might be a cause of concern to many but in long term since it requires no fossil fuel for source, it is most economic. Wind turbines are installed in remote open areas or hill top, so the land cost is generally low. The only hitch is the potential change in wind pattern due to climate change.
5. Abundance raw material for power.
Renewable energy source, wind is available in abundance and does not pose threat of depletion. There is a huge potential for wind generation still available across the world. In US alone 50 percent of its territory can be used for wind power generation as it is bestowed with renewable wind resource. But so far only 38 out of 50 US states have wind farms.
6. Europe is ahead of US in wind power generation.
European countries lead wind power exploitation. Germany leads the race with wind power production of over 8750 MW annually. Favorable climatic condition in Germany and other European nations have resulted in their experiment with wind power. Whereas US have the potential but due to its traditional dependence on fossil fuel, it is yet to achieve heights in wind power generation.
7. Wind promises huge power potential for the future.
For promising clean air and healthy environment, wind is certainly the reliable power provider for future generation. World wind power generation grew 4 times from year 2000 to 2006. Statistics show that wind power is serving the needs of over 250 million people in 70 countries worldwide and it is rapidly growing. Most prairie regions have potential for wind mill installation as there is constant wind source available. US has so much wind resource available, that if generated into energy, it can power the entire nation 10 times over with just wind power.
