Waller.sharkey.wiki.spring.2011

__Wind Power__ Joe Waller and John Sharkey

__Overview__
There is a lot of energy around the world that is being produced by wind turbines. These are on of the best tools of energy for the environment. People have been installing more of these over the past decade and some even installing small ones for their homes alone. There has also been talk of making an “offshore wind farm” which could produce enough energy and electricity to power the entire nation.

**__About Wind Turbines__**

Wind turbines have 3 large blades that are designed to be aerodynamic so they are able to turn and easily as possible when the wind catches them. These turning blades connect to a shaft, which is connected to a motor to produce energy and electricity.

__How Does it Work?__
The spinning blades turn the shaft very slowly, so about 30-60 rotations per minute. The gears inside will connect the low speed shaft with a high-speed shaft that boosts the speed up to about 1000-1800 rotations per minute. The high-speed shaft is the one that actually powers the generator. (The gears connecting the lowspeed shaft tothe high-speed shaft are the exactopposite of a reduction gear. Finally, the electrical output from the generator is connected to a larger electrical grid for the final output of energy.

__How much energy can it create?__
The largest wind turbines in the world will produce just about enough energy to power 600 U.S. homes. Some people will have smaller turbines in a backyard that will produce enough energy for their home alone or a small business. Throughout the United States, more than 27,000 MW of new wind capacity was produced in 2008, with global wind capacity reaching almost 121,000 MW. The wind energy systems in the United States Broke all of the previous records in 2008 by installing 8,358 MW of new generating capacity, and this was enough to power 2 million homes in the country. Wind energy in the United States is now at 25,170 MW. This is producing enough energy to power just about 7 million homes throughout the country.

__What are the Pros of having a Wind Turbine?__
There are many pros to using wind turbines for energy over many of the other options. The number one pro is that they produce no air or water pollution. The next best thing is that when the turbines are finally up and running, the cost to keep them going is next to zero. Another great thing is that the mass productions and the advances in technology are actually making the cost of producing the turbine much cheaper. Many governments also offer some tax benefits if wind turbines are produced. Some of the governments will also pay you for the energy that is not used by the turbine you produced. They also don’t create any greenhouse gasses during the production of energy that would damage the atmosphere. Turbines also make the United States less dependent of oils and other fuels.

__What are the Cons of having a Wind Turbine?__
There are also many cons that come along with the turbines being produced. Many people will complain about the noises that the turbines make saying that they are too loud. The slowly rotating blades are also known to kill many different type of birds, but not nearly as many as cars power lines, or sky scrapers do. The wind is also the min variable, if there is no wind blowing, than no energy is produced. One of the worst thing about turbines is that they need several acres of unobstructed area surrounding the to be able to work at maximum capacity. The GE 1.5 Megawatt Turbine needs about 82 acres cleared around it and the Vestas V90 needs 11 acres cleared.

__How much of the World's Energy does it produce?__


A common question asked is; do wind turbines make up a lot of the world’s energy? Why or why not? Over that past decade the use of these turbines has increased more than 25 percent each year. Yet, it still only produces a small fraction of the energy produced in the world. At the end of the year last year, it was recorded that wind turbines produce 70,000 MW. (In the United States, 1 megawatt is enough to power 250 homes.) In 2005, wind accounted for about 1 percent of the world’s energy. Energy experts predict that if the growth of wind turbines continues, by the year 2050, wind turbines will produce one-third of the world’s energy.

__What it could do on a large scale?__
If given the opportunity to create wind farms off shore, we could produce enough energy to power the entire nations. Wind energy is very expensive to set up, so it requires a great amount of capital to finally establish them. After the initial investment and startup costs, however, it is definitely one of the cheapest forms of electricity generation to maintain. So on a large scale, in the United States would give people an opportunity to produces these farms offshore; we would become less dependent on foreign countries for their oils and other resources that we can only get through them.

__Who else uses the technology?__ [[image:http://smarthomeshack.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/11122-windfarm-land.jpg]]
There are many different countries that usethe turbines as power and electricity resources all over the world. Germany actually has the most installed wind turbines, then its Spain, United States, India, and Denmark. In Denmark, wind is producing just about 20 percent of the country’s electricity consumption.

__How we woul____d change how it is use____d?__ [[image:http://blog.cleveland.com/nationworld_impact/2009/03/large_Wind-turbines-2002-Denmark.jpg]]
There are a few different ways that I would change the use of wind turbines myself. I would put more of the small turbines, like ones on houses and dorms, on residential houses when it is easier to harness wind energy so they can make their own power. I would also take the energy from wind farms and direct it more towards the cities and heavily populated areas, places where the energy is hard to harness. Obviously this wouldn’t be enough energy or electricity to power the entire nation or the world, but if you combined it with solar power and a little bit of conventional energy (burning fossil fuels), we could reduce the amount of greenhouse gases and the amount of fossil fuels that we burn dramatically. Also I would try harder to make the United States produce the offshore wind farm that people have been talking about because this will be able to produce a ridiculous amount of energy for the entire world.

__Mass Maritime Wind Turbine__
An example of this technology is the turbine we have right here on campus. The turbine on campus produces enough power in one day to power 96,324 homes. We only use part of the energy produced and it still has plenty of energy to power the entire school plus more. The excess energy produced from the turbine is one of theexamples of the government incentives, because we sell it back to the power plant that is close to the school. So the don’t have to use as many fossil fuels to create their own energy.

__Conclusion__
In all, Wind Turbines are a great way to produce energy around the world. They are the cheapest, but one of the most efficient ways to make power. The production of these turbines has been increasing rapidly over the past few years. If we keep up the production, it could drastically reduce our needs for the fossil fuels and slowly clean the atmosphere and also improve the quality of the air thatwe breathe. This could also counteract the impact of all of the forests being destroyed due to people trying to make more money by build new homes. You do need to clear some land for the wind turbines to work a full capacity, but in the long run it evens out because it is actually cleaning the air and helping the atmosphere.

__Sources__
> http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2006/04/utility-scale-wind-turbine-for-mass-maritime-academy-44708
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 * http://www.windustry.org/your-wind-project/home-and-farm-scale-wind/home-and-farm-scale-wind