Important How Wind Power Works Information
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 center
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.
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