Wind is a renewable resource because it is limitless. Wind power is the fastest growing electricity generation technology. It is a result of the sun heating the earth unevenly; some patches become warmer than others. The seasonal changes in temperature constantly generate wind, thus producing a fuel source that will never exhaust. As long as the sun shines, the wind will blow and people will harness it to power their lives.
How it works:
The Sun heats our earth unevenly causing some patches to become warmer than others. The pressure changes, that is warm patches of air rise other air blows in to replace them - and we feel a wind blowing. The wind carries with it tremendous amount of energy which can be harnessed by building a tall tower, with a large propeller on the top. The wind energy blows the propeller round, which turns a generator to produce electricity.
Wind power plants use large spinning blades to arrest the kinetic energy in wind motion. This is then is transferred to rotors that generate electricity.
Environmental impacts
Wind plants produce no waste, so naturally no air pollution, no water, and there is no need to tear up the land to extract the wind resource that produces wind power. Wind power generates following categories of environmental impacts: they are visual impacts; noise pollution; wildlife impacts. These impacts can differ massively from site to site.
- Wind farms consist of large numbers of turbines, each mounted atop tall towers in rural areas. Hence they can often be seen for a long distance. The visual impact consequences vary from location to location. Some find wind turbines to be enduring symbols of self sufficient lands. Others see them as utter intrusions in the "natural" landscape.
- Wind turbines belonging to older designs emit noise that can be heard in the vicinity of the wind farms. This high decibel noise produced by one wind turbine is undesirable. The frequency of this noise can be controlled, but cannot be eliminated completely.
- Deaths of birds prompted a number of studies that subsequently influenced both the design of newer wind turbines and the sitting of wind farms. It was discovered that raptors are installed atop the wind generators for a better view. While this lead to hunting of large number of birds which get caught in the spinning blades when the wind begins to blow.
Wind power is the cheapest renewable energy technology available in the market today. And the costs of wind power are expected to continue to fall and may rank the cheapest electricity source of all options in years to come.