Wind Power Facts: Clean, Efficient, and Never Ending

The rate of extraction of fossil fuels that form a backbone of our economies is so high that according to scientific estimates, we do not have energy resources that can last more than a hundred years. These fossil fuels are a result of millions of years of decaying carbon matter and an application of excessive pressure of rocks to be converted into coal and petroleum. But these fossil fuels reserves, that are finite in nature, are soon going to end up with our future generations getting nothing left for them. It is in this perspective that alternative forms of energy that are clean and never ending, especially solar energy and wind energy, are being looked up with much hope by world community.

Wind power facts are as interesting as the energy that is produced from winds. Not many people know that wind energy is a result of earth's parts receiving different or uneven amounts of sun's energy. In fact, winds occur and flow because of sun and so we can have wind energy for as long as sun is there. When air flows from an area at high pressure to an area at low pressure, winds are formed. Another of wind power facts is that warm air near the surface of earth that is hot because of sun's rays gets up while cold air from above gets ready to take its place. This is a constant, ongoing process that keeps on creating winds. Man knows how to harness the power of these winds by converting wind power into electricity.

It is not that wind power has always been used to produce electricity. There are people who may think of wind energy as a new form of energy but wind power facts tell us that mankind learnt to harness wind power some 5500 years ago. In old times, strong sails were used to be powered by winds to move ships so that sailors could explore the world. World had its first windmill as early as 7th century in Afghanistan. More recently, wind turbines on farms were used by farmers to grind grain and to pump water in fields. However, the focus of scientists is on extracting electricity from blowing winds and wind power facts tell us that wind power extraction out of breeze has been increasing at a rate of 25% a year for the last decade or so. Even then, wind energy makes up only a small fraction of the total world energy.

Some outstanding wind power facts

Wind Turbine

Wind energy is never ending and also renewable. It is free of cost though wind power facts reflect that the cost of setting up a windmill is still significantly high. You may be amazed to know that the first windmill to produce electricity for a house was established in Scotland in 1890. It is interesting to note that the amount of energy or electricity wrung out of breeze is directly proportional to both the height as well as the size of fans on a wind turbine. In fact, the best wind turbines are those that are at least as high as a 20 storied building and equipped with fans that have 200 feet long blades. This ensures that fans get uninterrupted and very strong winds that can move such big turbines. Even when moving at a slow speed, such turbines can produce enough electricity.

Nothing is perfect or ideal though

If you have been lucky enough to visit a wind farm, you know that there are hundreds of such large turbines standing next to each other and rotating to generate electricity. These farms are mostly created in windy spots. One of the most important wind power facts is that there is no air or water pollution in the process of creation of electricity using wind power. However, these large fans do produce high levels of sound and some who live near these farms complain of sound pollution. The large fans blades of wind turbine are also culprits in the sense that they cause deaths of many bats and birds but this is nothing in comparison to power transmission lines and high buildings that kill birds many times me. Setting up of wind farms is a long drawn out procedure with equipment being extremely costly. But once set up, there are no running costs like fossil fuels in running a thermal power plant.

The world is working together to move on wind energy front

The world has shown great interest in wind power generation and in between 2000 and 2006, the amount of electricity produced using wind turbines increased by 4 times. Germany is the world leader in power generation using winds. US, Australia, India, China, Spain, Denmark and France are some other countries that are working in a collaborative manner to produce wind power. Experts believe that if wind power generation continues at the present rate, by the end of the year 2050, around one third of the total world energy might be fulfilled through wind energy.

In the present scenario where fossil fuels are fast depleting in a power hungry world, the best way is to work on renewable sources of energy like solar and wind energy which is a by product of solar energy. Wind energy is never ending and is also free. It is one of the cleanest sources of energy with most of the electricity through wind power coming from coastal areas of the world. The only drawback or the limitation of the present day technology to produce wind electricity lies in its inability to store energy produced by wind turbines into batteries. The world badly needs back up systems to store wind energy.

You can have your own wind power plant for your home

If you happen to live in a windy area, you can have a self made wind turbine on the roof of your home that could supplement your energy needs and lower the electricity bill substantially. In fact, if you choose to install both a solar energy plant as well as wind energy turbine, you could be getting rid of state supplied electricity for ever though this is a costly affair.