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Change is in the Wind
11/Sep/2006: One thing almost every region in the world has plenty of is wind. It's been used for centuries to power windmills and now technological advances are rekindling our use of wind power as a clean, renewable, cost-effective means of generating electricity.
The first electricity-generating wind turbines were invented as early as the late 1800s. By the early 1900s, as electricity became more widely available in towns and cities, many rural communities and homes turned to small-scale wind turbines for their electricity supply. Despite its continuing popularity in rural areas wind power hasn't really taken off as a means of generating electricity to the masses.
In 1996, the installed capacity of wind turbines worldwide was about 6 gigawatts a lot less than 1 per cent of the global electricity generation capacity from all sources. But the industry is growing, especially in European countries like Holland, Denmark and the interest is growing in a lot of countries around the world. There are a couple of reasons for this: firstly most electricity generated today uses non-renewable fuels such as coal, oil and gas. These contribute vast quantities of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere, which many scientists believe cause an enhanced greenhouse effect, which contributes to a warming of the Earth's atmosphere.
Secondly, developments in wind power science and technology are reducing the cost of wind power to a point at which it is now becoming competitive with many other energy sources.
In generating electricity from wind, the heat and chemical steps that are needed to produce electricity from a coal-fired power station for example are dispensed with.
It's the kinetic energy of the wind that turns the turbine which then turns a generator to produce a "cleaner" electricity.
The world has long been looking for a non-polluting, renewable source of energy that is as cheap as coal and oil and wind power is definitely an alternative that fits the bill.
Copyright Clipp.org
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