When you see windmills what comes to your mind? Do you think of the Dutch countryside scattered with these structures? Do you think of the windmill-fighting Don Quixote, the fictional Spanish nobleman?
Whatever comes to your mind, one thing is true; solar and wind power is now a reality in many places. After decades of neglect, windmills are being adapted and changed in design to allow them to produce the needed energy that is so vital for life in the 21st century.
Although used to turn a grinding stone that would be used to obtain flour for bread, wind mills are being for a completely different purpose today – to produce electricity through solar and wind power. In California, there are more than 16,000 wind turbines that are run by windmills with huge rotor blades.
The exploration of solar and wind power is not a new concept. Early, humans have always sailed the oceans even before the advent of the engines. Ships are driven by wind and for centuries, humans have used solar and wind power to pump water and saw wood.
Today, they are still used to pump water where power outages occur. In the 20th century the ease with which fossil fuels could be harnessed and the resultant greater power from these resources pushed solar and wind power to the back seat. In the years following the use of fossil fuels, it seemed that this form of fuel was cheap ad plentiful and thus easily eclipsed wind solar power. However, the 173 oil crisis changed the viewpoint of many and since then, wind solar power again came to light and has done that ever since.
From an environmental point of view, wind solar power clearly stands out and has taken on a new appeal. Wind and sunlight being inexhaustible were thus seen as the best alternative. In addition, they are also much easier on the environment and do not produce fearful weather and climate phenomenon as is seen with fossil explorations.
Wind energy produces no chemical emissions whatsoever making it one of the most user-friendly alternative energy resources out there. So how much energy can a wind turbine produce? Wind energy varies as a cube of the wind speed. This means that when the speed of the wind doubles, the power provided is 8 times more.
You can therefore see why a small increase in solar and wind power can result in a massive boost of energy output. This is called the Cube law. To take advantage of the law, wind turbines are placed on hilltops where wind accelerates as it passes. Wind is just one of the many alternative energy sources that may preserve our environment from the effects of fossil fuels.
Posted under Solar and Wind Power
This post was written by admin on November 26, 2009
do you think that hydrogen power will ever be harnessed? It seems to be a very clean source of fuel and it is the most abundant element in the universe….however it is extremely difficult to separate it from the air.
.-= steve@Estate agents manchester´s last blog ..2 Bedroom Apartment, St James Park £525.00 =-.
I was unaware of the cube effect. I’m afraid, however, that the inverse is also true: as wind power decreases by one-half, power output decreases eightfold. I guess the lesson here is that wind is extremely enticing as a source of energy in certain areas, but it isn’t perfect.
Windmill farms are popping up all over the place where I come from (Scotland) but there is always opposition when new farms get put forward. They are not the prettiest of things to have dotted all over your lovely countryside but there is no alternative for moving into the 21st century, yet anyway. I am for them.