Wind is created by air in motion. It is caused by the uneven heating of the earth’s environment by the sun. Because the earth’s environment is made of several types of materials such as land and water, as well as the things that make up these surfaces, they absorb the sun’s heat at differing rates.
During the day the land obviously heats faster than in the evening, because the sun is out. The water also heats up, but not as fast. Water also cools slower then land so at night the wind reverses course. When the heat rises, the cool air comes in to fill in where the heat is not, and this is when the wind is created.
Today, we use wind energy mainly to generate electricity to run homes, businesses or communities. Wind is a safe, clean, renewable energy source, this is because as long as the sun will shine, the wind will blow, and this is a constant factor in our earth’s environment.
A lot like the windmills of yesteryear, wind machines that are in use today use blades to harness the wind’s energy. The reason that windmills work is because they harness the power of the wind to produce electricity. The wind machines of today also must have wind to work, so if the wind isn’t blowing there have to be other sources of power at the ready.
The turbines used today are based on the direction of the rotating shaft for example; one type is a horizontal axis wind machine, and the other is a vertical axis wind machine. Wind machines (turbines) come in different sizes depending on the amount of electricity that they need to generate. There are small turbines used for homes and businesses, and they will have a capacity of less than 100 kilowatts. The larger sized turbines have a capacity of 5 million watts, or even as high as 5 megawatts these are used for commercial purposes. The large turbines can be used to make up wind farms that provide power to a large electrical grid.
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.
One major drawback of electric wind power is that the windmills used to generate power are massive and make a lot of noise. It can be used in remote places of the countryside as space and higher terrain is needed for it. Due to this reason it has a limited scope of use and not practical to install in densely populated areas.
Is wind power the way for you to be power self sufficient? Some parts of the country have enough consistent wind to generate enough electricity to serve everyones requirements.
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