Focusing On The Advantages Of Wind Energy

Wind provides oxygen to keep us alive. But other than this, are you aware that wind is also used to create energy and that there a lot of advantages of wind energy? Yes, that is right. Nowadays, many countries have been using wind energy to meet the electrical demands of their economy. Even more, it can also be a great substitute to the increasing demands of fossil fuels when it comes to energy requirements. Learn more about wind energy, its functions, benefits and all other stuffs by reading the entire article. For sure, you will be able to get lots of good information about it.

What is Wind Energy?

Society believes that there are lots of advantages of wind energy. This has already been proven by science recent years ago. However, what actually is wind energy? How does it really work? These questions and other benefits that we can get from wind energy will be tackled in a more precise manner later on. So be sure to have a keen eye and bring up your pen and notes as you might want to jot down important details about it.

Believe it or not, the advantages of wind energy have been observed a long time ago. In fact, this is the most basic type of energy available. Since the first time windmills were used in Europe, scientists have seen the potential of making this a good power source. From there, the advantages of wind energy were developed to something even more useful. As a matter of fact, this is also a great substitute instead of using fossil fuels. The technology that was being applied to wind energy can really produce an economically sufficient amount of energy in the households and for other consumers as well. Who knows, the electricity you might be using in your household may actually be created from these turbines?

How Does Wind Energy Work?

In the first 2 paragraphs we have outlined, we have talked about wind energy and its advantages as well as when it was first used to generate energy. But have you ever wondered how these things really work and how it can actually produce energy? Feed your mind with how energy is created from these winds. There are steps how electricity wind energy is formed, check it out below.

Step 1. Turbine blades continue to rotate as wind blows onto it.

Step 2. All the turbine blades rotate on a shaft inside the box, which is placed on top of the blades.

Step 3. The shaft is then connected to a gearbox. Through this, it helps to increase the rotation speed.

Step 4. From that point, the magnetic field in the generator then uses the increased speed from the gearbox. Then, it transforms the rotating energy into electricity.

Step 5. The produced energy was then transported to a transformer. At this point, the transported energy is converted to electricity via the use of generator. This converted energy can actually generate around 700 volts of electricity.

Step 6. The end process of this procedure is to transmit the energy produced all over the nation through the use of National Grid.

With this very clever idea, the advantages of wind energy were being put into good and effective use. In fact, many other countries have been setting up their own sets of wind turbines to sustain the countries demand for energy. The good thing about wind power is that, they are 100% natural, clean and earth friendly! It does not contribute to any environmental issues nor produce any hazardous by products compared to nuclear power and fossil fuels create. If only this technology can be developed furthermore, for sure, pollution can be greatly reduced and we can make the earth clean and balance.

The Moment When Wind Energy Was Discovered

Apart from talking the advantages of wind energy and what it can do, have you not been curious about when it was first used or who used it? Let’s go back in time when wind energy was about to be discovered. This is sure to be an added knowledge and it will excite your senses to know how powerful and beneficial wind energy is to the general public and even before the world was civilized.

It was dated back 17th century BC when the use of wind energy was first recorded. It was actually the Babylonian empire emperor Hammurabi who first suggested the use of wind as a source of energy. It was for the purpose of powering irrigation projects. Moreover, there are also accounts that boats and ship for sailing have already been using wind energy for around 5,500 years. With these things being said, it is safe to say that the Babylonian empire and sailors are the pioneers of using wind energy. They were the ones who discovered this process that benefits us up to this day.

How Was It Developed And Improved?

From the time of its discovery, bigger equipment and machines were used to generate wind energy. This was known as windmills. It was in the Sistan region now known as Iran when the first ever windmill was built on the 9th century AD. But during that time, these windmills are only used for very simply purposes and that was for water pumping as well as some other activities that were mostly agricultural.

Straight from Iran, it was introduced to China and India. From there, its use has spread out in all other parts of the world. However, it was the Europeans who have thought out of the box and redesigned windmills. The usage for these machines still remains the same or at least related to its first purposes but the process itself has been improved.

How Windmills Or Wind Energy Was Transformed Nowadays?

It was a long time ago since wind energy has been put into used. With the modifications applied and technology used to improve the usage of windmill, wind energy was able to be recognized as one of the best source of electricity. In fact, many industrial and electricity companies have been using the advantages of wind energy.

Conserve More Energy: Wind energy can conserve more energy since it has also the ability of having renewable energy. Meaning, it can produce as much energy as needed.

Fossil Fuel Consumption Are Greatly Reduced: Wind energy could be an alternative solution for gas and petroleum products at the later dates. It can also help to reduce global warming issues as it can minimize harmful gas emissions.

Water And Air Pollution Decreases: Since wind energy is a clean source of power, it does not contribute pollution. This is a source of energy that is 100% environmentally friendly. It does not release harmful toxic materials or whatsoever. An ideal location for wind turbines are on open plain, coastal areas and gaps in mountains. These are great place to build a wind turbine as winds from these places are very reliable, steady and strong.

Down Side of Wind Energy

Despite the goodness and effectiveness of using wind energy, it is still not immune to any disadvantages. Since wind turbines make use of wind for it to run and produce energy, it can be less effective when the wind is not that strong. What this basically means is that a backup power station of fossil fuel is needed to sustain the function of the turbines. And be aware since these plants that are required to maintain the processes of these turbines are very expensive.

On the other hand, when winds are so strong, there might be a possibility that these turbine blades could not hold on the wind or automatically stop to avoid further damage. Therefore, don’t be attached to the principle of the stronger the winds, the better. It is because at some point, this may also be the reason for the turbines to be broken.

Breaking News

Due to the huge advantages of wind energy, government agencies in Washington, D.C will start using one hundred percent renewable energy soon. It is said to provide all the electricity demands for the district’s government agencies. As of now, the project has a full year contract to test out how it would take effect. The district is looking for a positive result after the time in their contract. In fact, just last December, the district already used a massive 1 billion kilowatt hours of clean energy from this contract.

Conclusion

From the time that it was first discovered by Hammurabi for sustaining irrigation projects and by some sailors to run their ships, wind energy has now made it easier to produce clean source energy and make life easier for the people of today. With consistent innovation to these machines, it is now able to develop beneficial functions in the society. Not just that, it is also able to reduce pollution created by other power plants.

From only being used to run windmills to pump water and some agricultural activities, wind energy had now developed and is being used as a way of getting clean source of energy.