Wind Power - How Wind Is Used As Alternative Energy

Wind is one of the most destructive things in nature but is also very helpful in powering our cities. More countries are seeing those benefits and are trying to create different ways of taping into that power for their cities. Wind power is essentially the conversion of wind energy into a form we can use such as electricity. According to the World Wind Energy Report of 2008, wind power put out 1.5% of the planets electricity usage and is still rising immensely. Since 2005 it has doubled! Wind energy as a power source is great as an substitute to fossil fuel because of many reasons. First, the power source is overflowing. With wind there is an limitless amount of it and also it is commonly dispersed so individuals are able to get it everywhere around the world. Plus, wind is a renewable energy source that is clean in that it doesn’t produce any greenhouse gas emissions hostile to the environment. Nonetheless, the problem with wind is it not being constant in one spot all the time. With wind sometimes it isn't blowing at all but also there are times when there burst times. It’s said that because so much power is generated by higher wind speeds most of the energy is produced during the short burst times. For example, in 2002 Lee Ranch did a sample of their wind turbines and found that half their energy was gained during just 15% of the time the windmills were operating. Compared to other sources of energy, such as fossil fuels, the environmental effects of wind power are quite minor. Wind power is good in the fact that it doesn't create any pollution and can produce energy without fuel. People are now beginning to see the benefits of this and are building wind turbines at their homes to get off the dependency of the power company. One good benefit is that windmills can be joined to the local grid. So people can utilize that for their storage of the energy and displacing purchased power with local production when it’s presented. Houses can be off the grid and make use batteries or photovoltaic systems to retain the energy produced. Residences can then hold onto that energy until they need to use it. Now more than ever people are finding various ways of building their own home windmill. Home owners need to first check to see which model would work best for their home. There is either the horizontal axis or the vertical axis windmill. If there are many obstacles at your residence the best model would be a vertical axis over a horizontal axis. But as windmills become popular the cost to build one will continue to drop making it affordable for everyone.