Wind Power Pros And Cons

A lot of people are wondering about wind power pros and cons. If its so good and green why hasn't everyone started using it?

To begin with let's answer the question how does wind energy work and how does a windmill convert wind currents to usable electricity?

This article will clearly talk about wind power pros and cons and how energy is harvested from wind current and how wind power is currently being widely used.

So how does wind energy work?

Strong air current is the main source of wind energy. Engineers build tall towers with propeller blades which are called “Wind Turbines” to intercept wind currents. When the propellers rotate, wind currents charge up the industrial batteries or generators inside the Wind Turbine Facility. The generated kinetic energy from the propeller’s rotation is then transferred for electrical consumption by nearby towns or are either directly transferred manually to towns from portable industrial batteries or generators.

How does wind energy work in towns?

Wind turbines are most strategically positioned offshore, around coastal areas, or on top of high altitude mountains. Wind turbines can generate from 1.5 to 3 megawatts per day. As of 2011 international statistics resources provider: NationMaster.com has compiled worldwide electricity consumption in 2011 which had amounted to 17M giga watts, and of those; only 198 giga watts where generated from wind energy.

Wind Power Pros:

1. Renewable Energy – wind never stops, it is a natural phenomenon which we encounter everyday. It is not a scarce resource as the movement of air does not stop.

2. A Natural Source of Energy – wind energy is one of the cheapest sources of energy to operate, maintain and to harvest. Unlike other resources which need lots of processing, investing on harvesting, equipments and maintenance, wind turbines and wind farms are easy to develop and operate, just leave everything for nature to provide energy.

3. No Waste, No Pollution – wind farms do not need fuel for burning, or to do not use any harmful chemicals to process or transfer energy resources.

Wind Power Cons:

1. Global Warming – global warming does not ensure the viability of typical locations for wind turbines any longer. This could mean; a year could have longer droughts or lesser windy days than of its common previous years which can be less efficient for producing power from wind energy facilities.

2. Limited Possible Locations – wind farms are only advisable to be built on near coastal locations,  not all topographies of coastal areas have strong wind currents and not all elevated areas have constant air current. This could mean that major cities in central mainland may not be able to develop adopting and use cheap and renewable electricity from wind power

3. Inefficient Energy Source –  Energy from solar, coal, tidal, hydroelectric and geothermal resources generates more efficient energies than wind power.  How does wind energy work efficiently? Consistent and strong wind currents are highly essential for generating and supplying usable energy from winds.

Wind energy is a form of natural and renewable energy. Today, the use of wind power to generate energy for human consumption has an average growth rate of 30% worldwide.  Applying new technologies to wind generation is a great way to influence wind power pros and cons to our advantage.