Topic > Harnessing the potential of wind energy for a cleaner planet

Renewable energy is any natural, theoretically inexhaustible source of energy, such as biomass, solar, wind, tidal, wave and hydropower that does not derive from fossil or nuclear fuels. There are five general types of renewable energy including wind, solar, geothermal, biomass and hydroelectric. (Dictonary.com, ND) All of the following provide numerous benefits to our health, climate and economy. Each renewable energy source has unique costs and benefits, but all are very important and play a specific role in eliminating our dependence on non-renewable resources. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay Our atmosphere is overloaded with carbon dioxide and other emissions due to human activity. This traps heat and will steadily increase the temperature of the planet, which will shortly create significant and harmful impacts on our health, our environment and our climate. In the United States, electricity generation accounts for more than a third of global warming emissions. Most of this is generated by coal-fired power plants and produces around 25% of total global warming emissions. Natural gas-fired power plants produce 6%. In short, most renewable energy sources produce little or no global warming emissions (Awea.org, ND). According to data aggregated by the International Panel on Climate Change, life cycle global warming emissions associated with renewable energy, including production, installation, operation, maintenance, decommissioning and decommissioning are minimal (Awea.org, ND). Wind power dates back over a thousand years, to the original documented windmills that were used for grinding grain and pumping water in Persia. Over the course of these thousand years, the devices used to counteract the power of the wind have changed radically, from the primitive “vertical axis” windmills used in Persia and China to the new modern wind turbines scattered throughout the world. Likewise, changes in the uses of this energy have occurred over the years. Wind energy was originally used to grind grains and pump water to harness electricity to power entire cities. The history of wind energy is very important, although the present and future are more concerning to most (brynmawr.edu,ND). As long as the sun shines and the earth turns, wind can be exploited unlike fossil fuels. The most abundant and fastest growing resource is wind. This has been the case since 1990. As fossil fuels run out, it is essential to continue researching different methods to reduce the cost of adding wind turbines. Today's wind turbines are a much more advanced version of the windmill. Modern wind turbines use the kinetic energy of the wind to convert it into electricity. Most of these windmills have three blades and sit atop a tubular steel tower, and generally range in size from 80-foot-tall turbines that can power a single home. Turbines more than 260 feet tall can power hundreds of homes (brynmawr.edu, ND). There are three main types of wind energy; these are utility-scale wind energy, distributed wind energy and offshore wind energy. Industrial-scale wind energy consists of wind turbines of more than 100 kilowatts. They are developed with electricity fed into the power grid and distributed to end users by electricity utilities or operatorselectrical systems. Distributed wind energy is 100 kilowatts or less to directly power a farm, small business or home. Offshore wind consists of wind turbines installed in bodies of water around the world; I'm not in the US yet. (Awea.org,ND). Wind turbines work when the wind blows past the turbine. The blades capture energy and then rotate. This rotation will spin an internal shaft, which is connected to a gearbox that increases the rotation speed, which is connected to a generator that ultimately produces electricity. Most commonly, wind turbines consist of a tubular steel tower, can be up to 325 feet tall, which will support both a "hub" that secures the wind turbine blades, and the "nacelle", which houses the shaft of the turbine, gearbox, generator and controls. A turbine is equipped with wind evaluation equipment and automatically rotates with respect to the wind and tilts or “tilts” its blades to increase the energy captured (Awea.org, ND). Generally, wind turbines stand together in an area with a lot of wind in a robust development process into an interconnected group called a wind project or wind farm. They work like a wind farm. These turbines are connected, so that electricity can travel from the wind farm to the power grid. Once wind energy is fed into the power grid, electric utilities or energy operators will deliver the electricity where it is needed. Smaller transmission lines, called distribution lines, will collect the electricity created at the wind project site and then transport it to larger transmission line “grids” where the electricity can travel long distances to locations where it is needed. Finally, smaller “distribution lines” deliver electricity directly to your town and home (Awea.org,ND). The United States is very lucky because it has strong winds throughout the country. The current estimate of wind energy potential is ten times greater than the entire country's electricity consumption. This powerful wind resource varies across the country based on region and topography. As of the end of 2013, America had over 46,000 operational wind turbines in thirty-nine states. These are responsible for 61,100 megawatts (enough to power over 15.5 million homes. That's more or less enough energy to power homes in six different states. The United States overall gets 4.1% of its electricity from wind, although some states consume much more. For example, Iowa and South Dakota get more than 25% of their electricity from wind energy (brynmawr, ND). deals with wind energy. Overall, the primary concern is cost-effective compared to previous costs. During 2013, U.S. utilities signed at least sixty power purchase agreements totaling nearly 8,000 megawatts in 18 states. Utilities have the privilege of locking in wind energy prices for about 20-30 years as a fuel. This is one reason why wind energy added 31% of all new energy. generating capacity to the US grid over the last 5 years. In August 2012, a historic milestone for wind energy was reached, amounting to 50 gigawatts of electricity generating capacity. Five months later, the United States reached the 60 gigwatt milestone, enough power to generate electricity for 15 million homes each year. As of September 2014, the current installed wind energy capacity is approximately 62 gigawatts (energyinformative.org, ND). Another important advantage of wind energy is that it is green. Harnessing wind energy will not pollute the environment as much as fossil fuels, nuclear energy and.