Electric Wind Power On A Commercial Scale May Be The Answer
Saturday, January 30th, 2010Wind is the affect of air in motion. Wind is caused when the sun shines and heats up the earth’s surface unevenly. Because the earth’s environment is made of different materials such as land and water, as well as the things that make up these surfaces like wood, metal, and glass, they absorb the sun’s heat many different rates.
During the daylight hours is when the air over the land heats up more rapidly, and the air over the water heats up at a slower rate. The warm air above the land swells and rises, and the cooler air quickly spills in to fill the gaps, this process creates the wind. When night comes, the winds turn course, because the air cools more rapidly over the land than it does over water.
Today as we look for new ways to power the earth, it is a natural thing to look at wind power. It has been used for many years to power simple machines of the past. Wind is another type of solar energy, which makes it a renewable energy source. In years past we used windmills, the wind machines of today are called turbines.
Just like the windmills, turbines also use blades to capture the wind and turn it into energy. If there is no wind, then the turbines will not turn, this means that you must have a back up source of energy. Turbines are more sophisticated than windmills and they can use even the slightest breeze to turn the blades.
Turbines today can use a horizontal or vertical axis, though most are made with a horizontal axis. They also come in many different sizes depending on what they are meant to supply energy for. If it is for a home or small office the turbines will be about 20 feet or more and can put out about 1000 kilowatts. The larger ones can put out as much as 5 megawatts, and these are used for commercial purposes. You might see wind farms which are made up of the larger turbines, and these supply a grid which can power a whole community.
Most turbines used today are the horizontal axis type. The horizontal axis turbines have blades that are made like airplane propellers. A horizontal wind machine will typically stand about as tall as a 20-story building and has three blades that can span as much as 200 feet across. The largest turbines in the world actually have blades that are longer than a football field. Wind Turbines are built to stand tall and wide to capture more wind effectively.
Critics of electric wind power point out that the windmills which are essential to power generation are extremely large and make a lot of noise. Ordinarily, they can only be used in rural areas, where the open spaces and elevated terrain essential for their use can be found. Because of these limitations, they are not usually practical for more densely populated areas.
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