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Wind Energy

Historically, wind energy has been used primarily to propel sailing vessels and run grain mills. The first use of windmills as a source of electricity cropped up in the 1980’s. Since that time, the field of wind power has grown extremely rapidly.

Wind power has a vast potential, it is estimated that the commercially viable potential of wind energy is more than 40 times the contemporary global power usage. Although the global wind power production is currently only 1.5 percent of the total electricity used, that figure has doubled in the past three years.

The source of wind is the sun. As the sun strikes the earth, the atmosphere absorbs a portion of the energy. Different areas of the earth absorb the remaining energy creating temperature differences. For instance the equator receives far more solar energy than the poles do. Land is far more prone to temperature changes caused by solar energy than water is. These two forces combine to create steady winds at sea, and also high in the atmosphere.

While there are currently no home wind turbines collecting atmospheric wind energy, there are several instances of offshore wind plants.  Because of the prevailing nature of sea winds, offshore wind plants are more efficient than most land based wind power generators.

 

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