Anthony.2010

__Wind Power__ ===What is the problem at hand? The problem at hand here is that human kind is destroying the atmosphere by the amount of CO2 we admit. The driving force of this issue is the amount of fossil fuels that we burn. A solution to help with this problem would be wind power, which is what some people have been doing to help slow down this process. ===

How does wind power work?

Let’s start at the beginning. A turbine works by converting kinetic energy in wind into mechanical energy. Energy used directly by machinery, then the machine is referred to as a windmill. The energy converted to electricity, is known as a wind generater. Wind turbine technology is a great thing, because it allows us to still provide enough energy for our modern day needs at our disposal. Which allows us to lower the CO2 and global warming affects that we are facing? A turbine makes it electricity by using wind. The wind force turns the blades a wind turbine which are connected to a shaft, and the shaft is connected to a generator which creates the electricity. Turbine's produce from 50-750 kilowatts. Wind turbines can be separated into two types based on the axis about which the turbine rotates. Turbines that rotate around a horizontal axis are more common. Vertical-axis turbines are less frequently used. Another way to classify wind turbines is the location. Whether they are used onshore or offshore, or even aerial wind turbines**. ** High-tech turbines equal low environmental impact. Offshore wind turbines are increasing and are by far the largest wind turbine operation. That’s why wind power is gaining public approval and generating increased awareness. It is also becoming economically competitive with more conventional power sources a fact that’s greatly improving its prospects as a viable energy source. The process behind wind energy is pretty simple. It starts, of course, with the wind, which is actually a form of energy. Wind is caused by the sun’s heating of the atmosphere, the irregularities of the earth's surface and its rotation. media type="youtube" key="0Kx3qj_oRCc?fs=1" height="385" width="480"

How much CO2 does wind power produce?The numbers used to calculate carbon dioxide emissions, energy balance, and energy return on investment were acquired from Vestas, a leading company in wind power. The calculations are made using data provided from the Life Cycle Assessment for a Vestas V90-3.0 MW onshore turbine. Given: Energy consumption = 4,304,221 kWh Amount of CO2 emitted for 1 kWh = 4.64 grams of CO2/1 kWh Amount of energy generated by a wind turbine7,890,000 kwh/year or 657,500 kWh/month Carbon dioxide emissions from wind energy are as follow: To calculate the amount of CO2 emissions from a wind turbine, we took the amount of energy consumed during its entire lifetime, in kilo-watt hours (kWh), and multiplied it by the amount of CO2 emitted for 1 kWh. The energy consumed during the wind turbines entire lifetime includes the energy used during the manufacturing, operation, transport, dismantling/disposal and transmission. CO2 emitted = 4,304,221 kWh x 4.64 grams of CO2/1 kWh CO2 emitted = 19,971,585.44 grams of CO2 CO2 emitted = 19,971.59 kg of CO2

What are the best aspects of wind power?

Wind energy system operations do not generate air or water emissions and do not produce hazardous waste. Nor do they deplete natural resources such as coal, oil, or gas, or cause environmental damage through resource extraction and transportation. Development of 10% of the wind potential in the 10 windiest U.S. states would provide more than enough energy to displace emissions from the nation's coal-fired power plants and eliminate the nation's major source of acid rain; reduce total U.S. emissions of CO2 by almost a third and world emissions of CO2 by 4%.



What would critics have to say about wind power?

According to Goodrich, Eugene Soon, unless the economic gods or other angels intervene, our beautiful Tantramar Marsh will be sprouting a row of forty three white steel columns along the High Marsh Road, together with another twenty along the Trans Canada Highway in the vicinity of Amherst. Nearly thirty stories high or 262 feet, complete with flashing strobe lights and whirling rotors the length of a 747 Jumbo Jet, they will drastically alter this historic landscape for the foreseeable future. Opinions about them will vary. Some may think them beautiful. Others will consider them a hideous blight that completes the ugly work of the power lines. Most, perhaps, will merely find them distasteful. But, whatever our aesthetic responses may be, should we not all welcome them as a source of clean energy, or, at the very least, consider them a noble sacrifice in the war against global warming and environmental destruction? Not if a growing army of critics are right who argue that large scale wind power used to generate electricity is not inherently clean at all, but only somewhat less dirty than the fossil fuels they are purported to replace. How large this ‘somewhat’ is, is a bone of contention between advocates and critics of wind power, but it is disturbing, to say the least, that the criticisms seem to be based on certain facts that are disputed by no one with any knowledge of the subject, including wind farm developers themselves. In brief compass they are as follows. Installed capacity is not the same as power actually delivered. Wind cannot replace other sources of power in large scale electricity generation; it can only reduce their use by a limited amount. What we were not told, however, is that this is the power these turbines would generate if the wind blew at an ideal speed of between 30-40 mph (48- 64km) 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. You may have noticed that the wind does not do this. We are also not told, although it is a fact, that below 30 mph, the power generated by a wind turbine drops off dramatically, following an unalterable law of physics which dictates that the kinetic energy of wind varies as the //cube// of its speed.. The percentage of time the wind actually generates significant electricity depends of course on the region’s “wind resources”, as the developers delicately call them, and is expressed by the term “capacity factor”, which is the percentage of the “installed capacity” actually delivered in any given year. Say the critics. Again, not if the critics are right. To be sure, even the most rabid of the tribe would admit that wind power can affect //some// savings in fossil fuel consumption. But not even the most audacious enthusiast can truthfully claim that there is anything close to a one-to- one ratio between wind power generation and fossil fuel/greenhouse gas reduction, at least not if wind supplies more than a small (3-5) percentage of total electricity production. How much does it contribute? <span style="color: #000000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">In 2009 only 2% of the world’s energy was from Wind power. Although it is believed to continue growing every year. Wind turbines are still growing around the world, there are not enough of them yet to provide a large amount of the world’s energy, but it is a strong possibility that wind turbines will in the future.

**A Few Quotes**

<span style="display: block; font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: left;">"First, there is the power of the Wind, constantly exerted over the globe.... Here is an almost incalculable power at our disposal, yet how trifling the use we make of it! It only serves to turn a few mills, blow a few vessels across the ocean, and a few trivial ends besides. What a poor compliment do we pay to our indefatigable and energetic servant! " <span style="display: block; font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: left;">— [|Henry Thoreau]

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">"[In Adelie Land, Antarctica, a howling river of] wind, 50 miles wide, blows off the plateau, month in and month out, at an average velocity of 50 m.p.h. As a source of power this compares favorably with 6,000 tons of water falling every second over Niagara Falls. I will not further anticipate some H. G. Wells of the future who will ring the antarctic with power-producing windmills; but the winds of the Antarctic have to be felt to be believed, and nothing is quite impossible to physicists and engineers."

<span style="display: block; font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: left;">— [|Frank Debenham]

"Success four flights Thursday morning all against twenty one mile wind started from level with engine power alone speed through air thirty one miles longest 57 second inform press home christmas." Oriville Wright



Solve The Problem

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">Wind power is not at it's full potential yet. But with technology advancing every day there is a chance for windpower to continue to grow and help resolve our issues with co2 emissions. It would help solve this problem because it runs off of pure air and generates it into electricity. Giving off slim to no co2 emissions.


 * Who uses this technology?**

There are a lot off people who are using this technology, and the numbers are growing every year. From small buisness to large electric compines.

Works Cited

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