Fun+Facts!!

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.
 * __C02 production of 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 turbine: **__7,890,000 kWh/year__** or **657,500 kWh/month**



To calculate the amount of CO2 emissions from a wind turbine, we took the amount of energy consumed during it's 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 turbine's 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__**

__**Amount of water a wind turbine can purify/generate**__


 * Journal of Solar Energy Engineering **

Solar energy, wind energy, and teamwork of wind and solar energy have been used successfully to power an UV (ultraviolet) water purification system. Five different solar and wind energy systems have been tested and although these renewable energy systems have been used for water purification, graphs contained in the paper can be used to determine the feasibility of powering other electrical loads. Combining a 100-W solar-PV system with a 500-W wind turbine resulted in pumping and purifying enough water to satisfy the potable water requirements of 4000 people (16000 liters/day).



__**On a positive note:**__ - The wind is free, and it can be captured with good efficiency now a days compared to the results some decades ago. - They do not take large portion of lands like solar farms do! The land around these small towers can be cultivated or used in a different way without any problems! - A large group of people thinks they add to the view of the landscape!

- If you live on the top of the hill or miles away from any civilization you can still generate your own power with smaller wind turbines

__**Is it worth all the Hassle!?**__ The reason why wind power isn’t one of the top sources of energy production in the world is due to the fact that they can only be effective in certain areas. Though its technologies are growing and its use is increasing in many countries, the geographic location as to where wind turbines can be placed is limited. Offshore wind farms have to be located far enough offshore so that they don’t interfere with shipping lanes and create an “eye sore” but also have to be found in areas of relatively shallow water. The massive amounts of offshore wind farms located in Europe conform to both of these principles. We feel as though the technologies are there and so is the support to make wind power one of the top energy sources in the world. In order to further develop wind energy we would reconstruct wind turbine designs so that they could be effective in areas of lesser wind flow. This would certainly cure the problem of limited geographic location. Is it worth the hassle, that is for you to decide.