WIND ENERGY

Wind Energy

Wind Energy - Is It Worthwhile?

Introduction

The wind is a natural energy resource that has been used by humans on a modest scale for hundreds of years. Recently, however, concerns about climate change and diminishing reserves of fossil fuels have resulted in an increasing interest in wind as a major contributor to future energy needs. This renewed interest has not been without controversy, and major obstacles remain to realizing the full potential of wind as a modern energy resource. Doing so will require significant modifications to our energy infrastructure. It may also require some unpleasant compromises and difficult decisions about how we value Earth's resources.

The requirement for energy is expected to increase into the foreseeable future, with much of this current and future demand for energy being in the form of electricity. More media and public attention than ever is being directed toward discussion of viable alternatives to our existing energy sources. The world electrical energy demand is forecasted to grow by at least 3% annually through 2020. As in much of the world, the United States is developing new sustainable (sometimes referred to as renewable) energy sources to augment the current sources of coal, nuclear, and natural gas power plants. One of the most economical and technically feasible forms of sustainable electrical energy is derived from wind. (Wiser, 2008)

Wind energy has been used since ancient times to directly perform mechanical tasks, such as pumping water for irrigation or grinding grain for flour. A better use of the energy stored in wind is to convert the mechanical energy into electrical form because electricity provides a convenient, high-quality form of energy that can be transported over long distances. Current technology uses highly specialized turbines and associated electrical conversion electronics and controls to harness the available wind energy and make it available as electricity. The increasing costs of energy and the increasing demand for electricity have helped create a favorable environment for wind energy expansion. The cost of wind power generation is 4 cents to 6 cents per kilowatt-hour (/kWh), which compares favorably with newly installed coal-fired power generating plants. The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has a stated target of 20% of the nation's electricity being generated from wind sources by the year 2030. The 20% generation goal represents a large increase over the current power generation of 16 gigawatts (GW) to over 300 GW. A large amount of information concerning wind power is available on the DOE Web site. (Sorenson, 1983)

Discussion and analysis

The movement of rushing air creates wind. When land air that has been heated by the sun rises, it leaves a space to be filled by cooler surrounding air. The filling takes place immediately as the space is created in a way that could be described and felt as a rush. This fast movement of air is called wind. Wind power (or energy) can be described as the process by which the mechanical energy in the air movement is employed to produce electricity or do meaningful ...