figure 1 Wind Turbine |
Wind
energy is the use of the earth's natural winds and converting it
to electricity. This process uses wind turbines, which convert the kinetic
energy of the wind into mechanical power that can be used for various purposes, such as generating electricity.
Typical wind turbines (shown in figure 1) use blades that look like airplane
propellers that spin when they are positioned in the correct direction orientated with the wind. The video shown below further explains the workings of
a wind turbine in detail.
Wind
turbine farms can be found all over the world, including on land and in the
ocean. There have been debates, since the development of wind energy, about
whether onshore or offshore wind farms are the most efficient and most
environmentally friendly. Onshore farms seem more practical to most people
because they can be closer to more cities, but there are many drawbacks to
onshore wind farms, including the careful planning that needs to be done in
order to place them in the most prime places. Planners must take into
consideration location, position and amount within a region, distance from electrical transmission lines, and the noise concern (McWilliam). Wind farms cannot be
built within close vicinity to a city because it might affect the city's noise ordinances and act as a nuisance to people. This also causes a problem since
most electrical transmission lines are close to larger cities; therefore, the wind farm’s
power generated as electricty cannot be transmitted to cities as easily. Although
wind farms are all very difficult to build in densely populated regions, it can be
done; Toronto, Canada built a turbine in the heart of the city (McWilliam). Land based wind farms are the traditional way of utilizing the winds, but these farms do not harness the strength of the wind as well as a wind farm based along or off the coastlines.
The main
problem with onshore wind farms is that the majority of wind power is along the
coastal lines (as shown in figure 2). This shows why offshore wind farms (shown in figure 3 below) have
many more benefits than onshore wind farms. Winds tend to be stronger, faster,
and even more consistent offshore,and also at lower heights than onshore. They
make more sense because they can be installed closer to costal centers where
there is a large electricity demand. Offshore wind farms are also out of the
way of land obstacles, such as roads and cities. They can alleviate the long
distances to transmission lines because offshore wind farms can be built closer
to the large energy demands (Dvorak). These benefits help to explain the push
to create more offshore wind farms.
figure 2 Wind power distribution image borrowed from wiki.uiowa.edu |
figure 3 Offshore wind farm picture borrowed from http://www.eere.energy.gov/ |
figure 4 Approved Offshore Wind Farm |
Fossil fuels are a limited resource
in the world and are constantly diminishing, hence the need for renewable
energy resources such as wind energy. Fossil fuels are detrimental to the
environment because they pollute the atmosphere with greenhouse gases. Wind
turbines do not pollute the atmosphere at all, nor do they create any radioactive wastes
that may be harmful (Leung). According to the Montana Environmental Information Center, in Montana wind energy is is actually less expensive than coal. The costs for wind energy are constantly decreasing because of more research being done to understand how to make them more efficient. This is why the nation should push for more research and development in wind energy potential, whether it is onshore or offshore.
Many organizations are doing
research on wind energy, but research always requires monetary funding. To help
the environment and decrease the need for fossil fuels, we need the nation’s
help. What can we do to help? We can contact our local, state, and federal governments and express the communities' desire for a better environment through the installation
of wind farms in the surrounding areas. We create more support for certain
organizations and programs that are doing research in wind energy, some affiliated
with the U.S. Department of Energy. Ames Laboratory in Ames, Iowa is doing
research in replacements for rare earth metals that are needed in producing
wind turbines. Rare earth metals are elements that are needed for many things being built, but they create an economic and political problem since they are mostly found in China. If the Ames Lab can figure out alternatives for these, America will not have to depend on rare earths from China any more. They are also looking into how wind farms located around crops
affects them, including the benefit of the wind turbines fending off fungi. National Renewable Energy Laboratory is doing
research in domestic offshore wind potential, and the differences in the size
of the turbine compared with the power output. The
University of Houston was granted $2.3 million to create a testing facility
for composite materials to make offshore wind turbines stronger and more
resistant to harsh conditions. All of these organizations and more are working
towards the development of wind energy so that it will be more efficient. We
can help these agencies by donating money for their research or by bringing more awareness of their research there so that they get more recognition and funding.
We could create campaigns to make the government realize how necessary it is to
create more wind farms and elect politicians that support wind farms. There are many ways that the people can help their
environment in this way.
Thus, wind energy is how we can save
the planet by diminishing the global energy crisis and improving the
environment. Wind farms can be found all over the world, including the United
States. The wind farms found in the
United States are all located on land and require careful planning. Other
countries have both onshore and offshore wind farms. Offshore wind farms do not cause many problems for large cities. Offshore wind turbines create more
power, but they are much more expensive; therefore the United States is doing
much research to make them more efficient and less expensive to make. We can help wind
energy to be a bigger source of renewable energy by funding the
research groups and bring the need of more wind farms to the attention of the
government. Wind energy can revolutionize power and electricity.
Works Cited
Dvorak, Michael J., Cristina L. Archer, and Mark Z. Jacobson.
"California Offshore Wind Energy
Potential." Renewable Energy 35.6 (2010): 1244-254. Iowa State University. Web. 7 Apr. 2013.
Esteban, M. Dolores, J. Javier Diez, Jose S. López, and Vicente Negro. "Why Offshore Wind
Potential." Renewable Energy 35.6 (2010): 1244-254. Iowa State University. Web. 7 Apr. 2013.
Esteban, M. Dolores, J. Javier Diez, Jose S. López, and Vicente Negro. "Why Offshore Wind
Energy?" Renewable
Energy 36.2 (2011): 444-50. Iowa State University. Web. 7 Apr. 2013.
Leung, Dennis Y.C., and Yang Yuan. "Wind Energy Development
and Its Environmental
Impact: A Review." Renewable
and Sustainable Energy Reviews 16.1 (2012): 1031-039. Iowa
State
University. Web. 7 Apr. 2013.
McWilliam, M.K., G.C. Van Kooten, and C. Crawford. "A Method
for Optimizing the Location
of Wind Farms." Renewable
Energy 48 (2012): 287-99. Iowa State University. Web. 7 Apr.
2013.