Chisholm.wiki.spring.2011

The problem that the modern world is facing is that humans are dependent on power sources that operate inefficiently or are too dirtier for the earth. Many studies have already been proven that the world’s climate is slowly warming. This is due to all of the “greenhouse gases” the world has been producing for the last three hundred years. One of the largest examples of this is the use of fossil fuels. There are billions of people around the globe that operate vehicles that pour smoke into the earth’s atmosphere. This has caused many environmental problems around the globe, like the holes we have in the earth’s ozone. Another example is in Chinese cities, people have to wear gas masks almost all of the time from the poor air quality caused by the burning of coal. The main forces behind these problems are greed and the dependability of the world on “cheap” dirty power. Another problem is that this “cheap” dirty power is rising and price. The world’s oil reserves are running low and soon people are going to need to find a better way to create power. This can be done by one of the cleanest methods of power on earth today. This type of power is called wind power.



Wind power is a very efficient and clean way of making power. Wind power is one of the cleanest ways to produce electricity; however it is only used to produce about 1 percent of the world-wide electricity in use. Wind power basically is done by using large wind farms, which connect to electrical grids, which connect to power lines, which connect to homes.

Advantages: Wind is a free and ever renewable energy, it is also a somewhat modern technology. It also does not emit any dirty pollutants after it is placed into operation. The land that is taken up is a very small amount of land, although they are tall and can be aesthetically unappealing. In most places that there is a lot of wind, there are agricultural farms present in the area. This can be a good thing because cattle can graze freely without much room being taken up by the windmills. Third world countries could use this energy source which would save their precious funds. By 2020, it is projected that 12% of the world’s electricity will be given from wind power. The majority of wind power technology is located in Europe, but the U.S. is strongly considering implementing many more wind farms on, and off of its coasts. Electricity emission is responsible for 76% of SO2 pollution in the southeast of the United States. If the U.S. and the world are trying to change the path of a currently dirty air supply, we must look to wind energy to reduce pollution from fossil fuel powered plants. Wind will also never hurt our future generations, and is never going to run out. Disadvantages: Damage can occur to wind turbines from natural disasters, usually thunderstorms. Since they are so tall, they are a prime target for lightning to strike because the turbine will most likely be the tallest object in the open area.

"The Whinash project, by replacing energy generation from power stations burning fossil fuel, will reduce carbon dioxide emission by 178,000 tonnes a year. This is impressive, until you discover that a single jumbo jet, flying from London to Miami and back every day, releases the climate-change equivalent of 520,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide a year. One daily connection between Britain and Florida costs three giant wind farms." __George Monbiot professor at Oxford Brookes University. This shows that although wind energy is a great idea, it is far less efficient than it needs to be to be more effective.