Wind Energy

Hello, people of the world!! Welcome back to Climate Change with Tech, I'm alunissage and I'll be posting this week. Hopefully, you’ve read both mine and Robotics Girl’s previous posts on different energy types. If not, it would mean a lot if you did! There’s a lot of valuable information that we’ve talked about in those posts. Anyways, today I’ll be covering wind energy- or wind power: what it is, types of wind turbines, and how it affects our environment. So, without any further delays, let’s get started!

Let’s begin with the basics! What is wind energy? Well, according to the U.S Department of Energy, wind energy is the process of which wind is created into mechanical power or electricity. Wind is actually a form of solar energy! Wind is caused by one of these three main events: the sun heating the atmosphere unevenly, irregular events at the earth’s surface, and the earth rotating. Wind energy in the U.S, for example, varies greatly across the country, because wind is modified by bodies of water, different terrains, and vegetation. The mechanical power that winds energy can be made into is used for specific tasks- like grinding grain and pumping power. Currently in the U.S, almost 70K wind turbines are making reliable energy- and providing 9.8 percent of our country’s energy. Also, a few years back, NASA became interested in Wind Turbines- after considering wind energy a reliable source of energy that could have the potential to be used on Mars, and helped a company develop a turbine that could be used in the South Pole, which has harsh conditions. Now, more than 800 of those turbines made to withstand the severe weather of South Poles are up and readily creating energy!

Now, let's move on to how wind turbines work. For starters, wind turbines make use of aerodynamic energy, which allows the wind turbines to spin the blades on it. The kinetic energy from the blades transfers into a generator, which is what gives us energy from the wind turbine. There are actually a few diverse types of wind turbines! There are horizontal axis turbines and vertical axis turbines. Horizontal axis turbines have 3 blades that operate upwind, meaning that the turbine pivots at the top of the tower to face upwind. Vertical axis turbines come in many shapes and sizes, an example of which would be the Darrieus model, which looks like a giant eggbeater. Vertical turbines don’t need to be adjusted to the wind to operate- they are omnidirectional. Now you may be wondering, “are wind turbines only built on the land?” Well, they can be built on both land and water! They’re built offshore in large bodies of water like oceans or lakes. In fact, the U.S Department of Energy is currently funding projects that would put more wind turbines offshore! Next, let’s talk about how wind turbines are categorized. First, they are placed in three distinct categories based on where the turbines are installed and how they connect to the grid. The three categories are land-based wind, offshore wind, and distributed wind. The land-based wind turbines are generally large and are sized anywhere from 100 kilowatts to several megawatts. The large land-based wind turbines are more cost-efficient, as they can be grouped together, which provides more bulk to the power grid to which they are connected. The offshore-based wind turbines are HUGE! These turbines are on the larger side and are taller than the Statue of Liberty! Because these turbines are so big, they can collect powerful ocean winds, making a lot of energy. Also, since these turbines are on the water, their parts can be moved via boats, making them easier to transport compared to land-based turbines. Finally, we have distributed wind. These turbines are more customer oriented and are usually small- below 100 kilowatts. These distributed turbines can be used with other energy sources- like diesel generators and batteries.

Now, you may be wondering, what are the challenges and disadvantages of wind energy? Well for one, wind energy isn’t yet the lowest costing form of energy, meaning that it has to compete for its economic value. In places where it’s not as windy, it is sometimes hard to reach the full value that wind energy has. Also, because wind turbines are their most beneficial cost-wise and otherwise in larger grids, the turbines might occasionally be too far away from a city due to a lack of space. Finally, although the problem has been reduced over the years, wind turbines have the potential to harm local wildlife. This issue is mainly from birds and bats flying into the turbines, but we’ve adjusted and mostly overcome this problem!

Moving on, how is using wind energy beneficial for our environment and economy? Well, for starters, Wind Energy is a renewable energy source, meaning that it does not use fossil fuels, which are contributing heavily to climate change. Actually, by using wind energy, we can avoid using 329 million metric tons of carbon emissions. 329 MILLION TONS! That's equal to about 71 million cars’ emissions- which is huge! Even NASA is interested in wind energy! Wind energy is also super beneficial for economics, too! Wind energy is one of the lowest costing forms of energy, with the land-based turbines costing 1-2 cents per kilowatt per hour. And the wind energy field has created more than 120K jobs and is one of the fastest growing jobs!

Altogether, wind energy is an incredible source of energy that is extremely beneficial for us and our environment!

And finally, here are some things that you can do to help out our environment!

• Recycle! You can recycle plastic bottles and bags that include the little recycle sign

• You can volunteer to help with local clean-ups!

• You can help us spread the word- make people aware of what climate change is and how bad it is!

• Use less disposable plastics

• Try walking or riding a bike to short distances instead of a car

• Plant things! It’s a fun hobby and also helps the planet a lot!

• You can buy local and organic produce

Thank you for taking time to read this article! It was a long one today, haha. Have a wonderful week, and continue to make a difference!

Till next time!

alunissage

Works Cited

• Acp. “Wind Power Facts and Statistics.” ACP, 26 July 2022, https://cleanpower.org/facts/wind-power/#:~:text=Wind%20energy%20(or%20wind%20power,the%20blades%20of%20the%20turbine.

• “Advantages and Challenges of Wind Energy.” Energy.gov, https://www.energy.gov/eere/wind/advantages-and-challenges-wind-energy.

• “Wind Energy Basics.” NREL.gov, https://www.nrel.gov/research/re-wind.html.

• “NASA Technologies Spin off to Fight Climate Change – Climate Change: Vital Signs of the Planet.” NASA, NASA, 21 Apr. 2021, https://climate.nasa.gov/ask-nasa-climate/3075/nasa-technologies-spin-off-to-fight-climate-change/.

• “How Do Wind Turbines Work?” Energy.gov, https://www.energy.gov/eere/wind/how-do-wind-turbines-work.