Wind Turbine Energy

Wind will blow as long as the sun shines; as such it is a reliable, renewable energy resource, capable of providing the world with all of its energy needs. Wind power is the conversion of wind kinetic energy into mechanical energy through the use of wind turbines, a technology that has been in use for centuries. For over a decade, wind has been the world's fastest growing energy source on a percentage basis. The industry has been growing at 28% a year for the past five years, and if growth trends continue at this pace as is expected, wind capacity will double about every three or four years.

Wind power available in the atmosphere is much greater than current world energy consumption. The most comprehensive study to date found the potential of wind power on land and near-shore to be 72 terrawatts (TW), or over five times the world's current energy use in all forms (15 TW from all sources in 2005). At the end of 2007, worldwide maximum output of wind-powered generators was 94.1 gigawatts (GW). Although wind produces only about 1% of worldwide electricity use, it is growing rapidly, increasing more than fivefold globally between 2000 and 2007. By 2010, the World Wind Energy Association expects 160GW of capacity to be installed worldwide, up from 73.9 GW at the end of 2006, implying an anticipated net growth rate of more than 21% per year.

Wind is caused by the uneven heating of the earth’s surface by the sun. During the day, the air above the land heats up more quickly than the air over water. The warm air over the land expands and rises, and the heavier, cooler air rushes in to take its place creating winds. The wind flows over the airfoil shaped blades of the turbine causing them to turn.

The blades are connected to a drive shaft that turns an electric generator to produce electricity. Turbines used in wind farms for commercial production of electric power are usually three-bladed and pointed into the wind by computer-controlled motors. These have tip speeds of up to six times the wind speed. This allows them to be highly efficient and maximize the power that they are able to produce from the wind that is driving them. New technologies have decreased the cost of producing electricity from wind 80% since 1980.

Wind energy is an especially good choice when investing in green power because it is one of the cheapest and cleanest renewable energy sources available and it does not produce air pollution. The world continues to watch to see how successful these “wind farms” are going to be when put to the test of powering larger grids. If early indications are any hint, wind will literally take the world by storm and be one of the premier energy sources for the entire world.

Wind has been used by mankind for millennia for transportation, millworks, irrigation and other mechanical applications. These useful practices may seem rather rudimentary when compared with the dramatic leaps that have been made in order to harness wind power on a scale that must provide millions with electricity today.

Working with wind to generate electricity has reached a level that is truly 'state of the art'. Wind turbine technology draws on developments in the fields of mechanical engineering, aerodynamics, control monitoring and electronics - taking one of our most limitless and natural phenomenon and turning it into a commodity that is clean and renewable.

The wind's kinetic energy is collected using incredibly efficient, ultra-light turbines constructed with aerospace grade materials. The great thing about wind power is that wind is omnipresent, therefore these turbines can be placed in diverse locations around the world, where ever the wind blows, to meet growing energy needs.

Companies like GE have poured millions of dollars into wind turbine research and as they implement the knowledge that they have gained, other companies are reaping the benefits. Technology such as LVRT or Low Voltage Ride-thru Technology is now out there for the entire world to see and because of the success of technology like LVRT, wind becomes a more viable source as a main energy supplier each and every day.

Incredible advances continue to be made in this energy niche. Like solar power, wind has only recently been truly explored as an alternative means of energy. Wind as an energy source has been around forever, but this new technology is enabling energy companies to finally be able to harness it in a way that is making it more effective than it ever has been. And once again, this is the very reason why investing in this technology is such an intelligent move. As greater strides are made, the market will continue to grow and those that were in during the early stages of development will have an investment that will pay off many times over.

It's time to change the way we think about wind. It's not just a gentle breeze. Wind drives thunderstorms, global weather patterns and wears down hardened rocks. It contains force and strength. It also has the power to help us all realize the dream of clean and renewable energy.

Capturing wind to generate electricity is on a steep trend, at a rate of no less than 28% a year for the last five years. New research has accelerated the growth of this industry, driving down the cost of wind generated electricity by as much as 80% over the last 30 years. Because it has been so underutilized to this point, these numbers will continue to be impressive from an investment standpoint and perhaps get even better.

Who is buying into these advances? Agencies like the Department of Energy have been buying in, sponsoring rigorous studies at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory's Wind Energy Technologies Program. Thanks to partnerships like these, wind power is out of the experimental phase and being put to work all over the world today. In fact, 80 countries around the world are actively using wind power.

It is the fastest growing renewable technology sector on a percentage basis. In the U.S. alone, initiatives are in place to have wind power supply up to 20% of our energy needs by the year 2030, which happens to be an amount of supplied energy that Denmark has already exceeded with its wind farms. New estimates reported in a recent Harvard study state that all of U.S. energy needs could be met by wind power generated within the U.S. itself.

Worldwide estimates from the same study indicate that there is enough potential wind energy to generate 40 times the world's current electricity consumption. This exciting market isn't the only emerging 'green' technology, but it is the one that most world governments are counting upon to supply the lion's share of their future clean energy needs.

If you look around the world today, you see current developed countries (the United States being a prime example) that are trying to make things better in regards to the eco-system and you will also see countries that seemed like they were centuries behind the U.S. in terms of development growing at an alarming rate. Countries that had never even seen a car 20 years ago are now building high rises that are considered the new wonders of the world. Where is all of this additional power going to come from?

Wind is an energy source that has barely been tapped into. The reality is that once the latest technology in wind turbines is put into place on a grand scale, the possibilities of this are truly endless. While there is of course some labor involved, the overall costs of producing energy from wind are relatively miniscule. This means a more affordable energy source for the consumer and a more profitable product for the suppliers and investors. The world is being developed at an alarmingly high rate and there isn’t any reason that wind cannot power it through to the next century and beyond.

Wind energy is one of the cleanest and most environmentally sound forms of energy that can be generated today. It's remarkable that something as vast as the energy created by wind produces such a small environmental footprint. Wind will continue to blow as long as the sun continues to shine. It's a part of the natural weather cycle, that when harnessed correctly, is capable of providing the world with all of its energy needs with minimal negative environmental impact.

Wind energy does not produce air emissions, water pollution or hazardous waste. This renewable and reliable energy source doesn't depend on extracting or depleting the earth's natural resources like coal and oil, therefore environmental damage is mitigated. Unlike other energy sources, wind energy operations don't require significant amounts of water or transportation.

Overall, the use of wind power can significantly reduce the negative impact on the environment and improve public health and safety. It is estimated that if we used just 10% of the wind generated from the 10 windiest cities in the U.S., it would produce enough energy to offset emissions from coal-fired power plants, eliminating one of the country's main contributors of acid rain. This would result in cutting CO2 emissions by almost a third in the U.S. alone.

This would reduce or eliminate public health and safety problems such as asthma and other respiratory complications caused or exacerbated by air pollutants. As the percentage of wind energy used for electricity goes up, emissions go down and we can all breathe a little easier. With the current technology and the public spotlight on wind power, this is a very realistic and achievable goal.

It is no secret that the environment has been subject to some rather destructive emissions over the last century. People can put blame wherever they want, but the reality of it is that the technology to keep the air free of harmful pollutants did not exist until the last few decades. Do you honestly think that Henry Ford was worried about the environment when he built his first car? The same technology that is being ripped to shreds today by environmentalists was the same technology that was winning awards some 50 years ago.

Today, we have that technology for almost every form of energy that we use and wind is going to be a big part of that. In addition to being about the safest and cleanest form of energy that we can produce, it will literally leave the world unmarked. You see, we can put wind turbines up just about anywhere as wind is everywhere. Take the most desolate places on the face of the earth and wind turbines can be erected to convert the wind to energy.

This alone is one of the reasons that wind will continue to be explored as an alternative source of energy and why it will continue to expand at rates that are almost incomprehensible. When you are looking to invest, you must be willing to look at areas that have yet to fully reach their potential in order to achieve maximum profit. The potential for wind as an energy source is an open bottle, but nothing has been poured out yet. The world will be a major benefactor when wind “bottle” is finally tipped over to fill the glass and so will the investors who were smart enough to invest now and in the upcoming years.