Advantages & Disadvantages of Wind Energy – Things You Should Know About

The Pros

Wind power (WE) has been developed in the past several years so that it is now cost competitive to other fuel resources (like natural gas) and it is the most cost effective of all renewable energy sources. Because the fuel in the form of wind is free, wind power can provide a stable long-term price for power production. So is it surprising that wind power is the quickest growing power generation industry around the world?

We can help to match the increasing global power demand, and commitments from governments around the world to international agreements including the Kyoto Protocol (UNFCCC 1997) to eliminate the emission of greenhouse gases, as well as individual country commitments to mandatory renewable energy goals.

Given the appropriate service it has been claimed that it can supply approximately 28% of EU electrical energy by 2030. WE is also advantageous over conventional methods of producing power, in the sense that it is getting cheaper and cheaper to generate this kind of power as the technology grows, and mass production of the blades becomes routine. Wind may possibly soon be the cheapest way to generate power on a large scale, after all, it has come so far already in such a short time, and there must be a lot more ways to optimize its efficiency not just dreamt of yet.

Wind energy is extremely rich in many parts of the United States. Wind sources are characterized by wind-power density classes , ranging from class 1 (the lowest) to class 7 (the highest). It is clean power. In contrast to coal or natural gas, each kilowatt-hour of this type of power is free of charge of dangerous pollutants that contaminate our atmosphere and drinking water.

Unlike fossil fuel or natural gas, each kilowatt-hour is free of dangerous pollutants that contaminate our air and drinking water. Wind farms create no atmosphere or drinking water pollution because no fuel is burned. It is in reality just a form of solar powered energy.

Using windmills is an extremely ancient ability, which may have even been developed in China before 1 AD, but the earliest written documentation comes from 1219. Cretans were reported to be using literally hundreds of sail-rotor windmills to pump water for crops and livestock. WE does not sterilize land from production. Farmers and ranchers can continue to work the land because the turbines use only tiny a fraction of the land area.

Wind power plant owners make rent payments to the farmer or even rancher for the use of the land, which supports the economy remote areas and provides job opportunities for residents. Farmers who own land that is suitable for wind harvesting can also take advantage of their location by setting up their own wind turbine or by leasing wind rights to a wind power company.

Then techniques we use right now to harness the wind are still developing. This is not a perfect technology, but it holds powerful potential to diversify power generation all over the world.

The Cons

Wind energy is not easily stored, and not all air currents can be harnessed to meet the timing of electrical energy demands. Good wind sites tend to be located in remote areas far from areas of electric power demand such as urban centers. This means that large investment will be needed in brand new power distributions systems which will increase the cost significantly, and mean a lot more unsightly power lines marching across the land.

So, wind power is not necessarily the cure all it is advertised to be. Due to the intermittent nature, industrial scale WE can produce about 10-21 % of the installed capacity (wind advocates claim 30%), requiring back up generation of 80-90%, which is usually going to have to be natural gas or fossil fuel.

Wind power is not a linear function of the speed of the wind. For instance, an increase in wind speed from 5 m/s to 6 m/s leads to an increase in the yield of a generator of not 20% but usually of 45%! But, once the wind rises too much no power at all is generated as the wind turbine blades are furled for their own protection.

However, this power supply technique can be built on the small scale easily. Models can be found ranging from small size residential wind turbines producing about 10 kilowatt of power to experimental behemoths that are more than 500 feet tall and produce 3 MW of power, wind harnessing technology has many types and applications.

Badly placed wind power facilities have the potential to create major troubles for wildlife, especially for bird life. Turbines attached to buildings which were not designed as a turbine foundation usually shake apart over time. Additionally, the vibrations translate into sound and may be unbearably noisy for those in the residences nearby. These are the major pros and cons of wind power. If you know of any more, please do add them, for consideration, by leaving comments on this article.