Wind Energy | FAQs | Site Map | Bookmark this site!
Home > Learning Center > Wind Energy
Wind Energy
Click here to see our selection of
Wind Energy.
When we speak of energy, we are speaking in terms of the capacity for a force to do work. Thusly, wind energy is the capacity of our atmosphere to perform work. The amount of wind energy available in the atmosphere is astounding. We are limited more by our ability to harness it for useful purposes than by a scarcity of the resource itself. Like the other major clean energy source, solar power, wind power has always been hampered by a lack of ability to transfer one form of energy to another, rather than a lack of energy to transfer.
This distinction is an important one to make, because the lack of energy to transfer is what causes the energy spikes we are all too familiar with. This is because the leading energy sources for the globe right now are fossil fuels. Fossil fuels, as the name implies, are made from the remains of long dead plants and animals. The top three types are oil, natural gas, and coal. Coal was the first to be utilized, because it was a natural logical progression from burning wood or charcoal. Later, we learned to refine crude oil to create kerosene, gasoline, and other combustibles.
The problem is that we have no means of replenishing these fuels. This means that every barrel of oil we use up is one less barrel in the world. That is why we are standing at the crossroads that can lead to a global energy crisis, or a sustainable global energy culture. The sustainable side of the equation is the one talking about wind energy. Because as mentioned before, there's more than enough wind energy to go around, we just need the technology to efficiently harness the energy for our use.
One of the technological barriers we face in creating wind energy is one of location. The highest concentration of wind energy on the planet occurs in the high atmosphere. Sustained winds in excess of 90 miles per hour are commonplace. This would be a rich sector to develop, if we had reliable technology to do it. Germany has started experimenting with lighter than air wind turbines, which are the logical solution to the problem. They would be attached to the ground via a tether, which feeds the electricity created by the turbines back to the ground below. The tether could also be modified to pump helium, hydrogen, or whatever gas is deemed suitable back up to the turbine, so that the height could be maintained or adjusted as necessary for optimal performance.The second most abundant source of wind energy is a bit more technologically feasible than the upper atmosphere. It is actually the waters just off the coast of every continent on earth. Dry land heats and cools much faster than the ocean does. This creates constant winds in coastal areas. At night, as the land cools down, the warmer sea air blows inland. When the sun comes up and heats the land, the hot air over the land rushes out to sea. This constant flow of air back and forth is further enhanced on the sea side because there is literally nothing to slow the wind down. So if wind farms were placed ten or twenty miles off shore around major continents, wind energy could easily become the predominant means of electric production on the planet.
Jump to most popular search results:
Home Wind Turbines | Generators
| Vertical | Home
Wind Power Kits | Residential
| Windmills | Small
| Turbine Parts | Rooftop
| Wind Power | DIY
| Portable
Home |
Exchanges and Returns | Privacy
Policy | Contact
Us | About Us
| Shipping Policies
| Learning
Center | Wind Estimator | Tax
Credits | Wind Turbine Affiliates
Copyright © 1998 - 2010