Working Principle of Wind Energy

Wind is simply defined as moving air. When the earth heats up from sunrays it releases wind, this is a balanced reaction meant to cool the earth. The sun heat is felt more on dry land than on the sea. The air expands and easily reaches maximum high altitudes, then cool air drops down and moves as wind.

Wind energy is generated by converting kinetic energy through friction process into useful forms such as electricity and mechanical energy. These two energy sources are put in to use by humans to achieve various purposes. In the past, people constructed wind mills to generate energy meant for grinding rains. They also constructed mechanical wind pumps to be uses to pump large amounts of water into the farms.

Egyptians also used wind to sail their ships. Wind mills were constructed later with propeller blades for generating electricity. This was a great development and electricity was even used in remote areas. Because of the current shortage of oil and its cost today, wind electricity has become the preferred source of energy in most countries worldwide.

Electricity Generation

Wind turbines use wind energy to produce electricity. The wind turbines are machines that have a rotor with three propeller blades. These blades are specifically arranged in a horizontal manner to propel wind for generating electricity. Wind turbines are placed in areas that have high speeds of wind, to spin the blades much quicker for the rotor to transmit the electricity produced to a generator.

Thereafter the electricity produced is supplied to different stations through the grid. One wind turbine can generate enough electricity to be used by a single household. A wind energy plant normally consists of many wind turbines that are 30 to 50m long each. According to the rule, the higher you go, the cooler it becomes and more air is circulated. This rule is applied by constructing turbines at high altitudes, to use the increased air circulation at high altitudes to propel the turbines much faster.

Environmental Benefits

Unlike other ways of producing energy, wind is by far one of the cleanest methods of generating energy. The good thing about wind energy is it does not pollute the environment. Research has shown that global warming is caused by excess use of non-renewable fossil fuels. These fossil fuels emit gases that pollute the world’s atmosphere. The reliance on oil and other non-renewable sources of energy is not feasible in the long run. These fossil fuels will get depleted in the near future and countries that will have not embraced clean energy will find it hard to cope.

Kyoto protocol signing

Many countries have signed the Kyoto protocol that aims to conserve the environment by turning to environmentally friendly sources of energy, except for some countries like China and the United States, feel that this protocol will hurt their economies. Replacing fossil fuels with wind energy is the best way to conserve the environment. Wind is renewable and can never be depleted. This is the reason many countries are shifting focus to wind energy and other renewable sources of energy such as geothermal and solar.