How Wind Power Works

Harnessing the power of wind has been done for centuries. If you have ever wondered how wind power works, just step out into it and feel the power of this natural, free, renewable resource. Your body creates a resistance force, but you are too heavy to move (except in hurricane force winds), and you are not attached to a centre post that would allow you to rotate with the wind.

Wind power has been used to move ships across the ocean, to pull up water from deep in the ground, to grind crops, and now to help create electricity for mankind’s benefit. There has always been plenty of wind. Look at the Grand Canyon to see how wind and water can carve deeply into solid rock. Go to the beach or the desert and you will see the little ripples caused by wind currents. Watch the nightly weather forecast and they will point out trade winds, jet streams, and other wind related weather patterns. Look into the sky and watch as the wind blows clouds around and reshapes them. Wind is an amazing natural force.

The beauty of knowing how wind power works is that you can use the wind many ways, and it is free. Until recently, wind was used to power water pumps, grist mills, sailboats, to determine directions, and more. Only now, in the twentieth century, is it being used to create raw electricity for use and sale. New, giant turbines are being used to power entire cities or rural areas. They are created and built specifically for this purpose. And there are smaller versions suitable for residential yards, portables for varied uses, and micro wind generators for rooftops.

The current economic crisis in 2008 has run head on into the factual evidence that fossil fuels pollute and are finite. There must be new renewable energy sources refined and captured, including wind, solar, and hydrogen. Wind power is clean, freely provided by Mother Earth and Nature itself, and it does not pollute because there are no by-products. As technology develops, and demand increases, the cost of purchasing and installing wind power products will come down. The goal is to be able to provide inexpensive wind power to even the poorest areas of the earth, so everyone can benefit from electricity.

Exactly how wind power works is no mystery. The kinetic energy of the wind is captured by the wind mill, the source of resistance to the wind. The wind hits the paddles, which are free to rotate with the wind, and in turn the paddles (blades) convert this wind energy into a rotational shaft energy by turning an interior drive train which moves that energy into a generator that captures it. From the generator, electricity produced moves into storage batteries, or is transferred via an inverter for home use. The inverter bumps up the DC current to AC for home use. The electrical energy produced can also be moved to a utility power grid for sale to that company, and use by others. There are two types of rotor blades, a vertical axis, and the horizontal axis type which is more widely used today.

There will be much publicity in coming years about alternative energy and new power sources. Solar and wind will be at the top of the list. They are related and can be combined for a hybrid energy power plant. The sun is what creates the wind, after all, and they work hand in hand as free, renewable energy sources out there for the taking, or capturing, for use and benefit of all mankind.