Make Electricity From Wind

Wind turbines are often used to make electricity from wind.

With more and more fuels getting wasted and used, there are very few options remaining. Bio-fuel is one of the options and to add to it is the use of solar panels for driving motors and making electricity. The third option is harnessing the wind power.

Wind is a powerful source of energy that has been harnessed for different uses for centuries. More and more scientists and researchers feel that wind can be used effectively as a renewable energy source and this can be done only when power within the moving air can be harnessed properly.

Geneseo Mapleleaf on Wind Turbine
Creative Commons License photo credit: cincooldesigns

The Wind Energy Industry has grown rapidly since the 1990’s and is considered as one of the fastest growing sectors in the power generation industry. Some of the European countries have even installed wind turbines that have been in operation for almost 20 years now and this entire operation has been extremely successful as well. Using wind turbines to harness wind power to create energy have brought down the production costs and are viable option for the coal fired power stations.

According to a study, the UK has the largest potential wind energy resource in the entire Europe and hence wind is being regarded their most promising future source of renewable energy technologies. As of today the wind turbines in the UK are producing electricity that is being delivered to almost 380,000 households and reaching around 1 million people. A salient point of the use of wind energy is that it has reduced carbon dioxide emissions by almost 1.49 million tones per annum.

The question is how can wind be converted into energy? The answer is: by using a wind turbine. The wind turbine is basically a type of rotating device just like a huge fan that can convert the kinetic energy present in the wind into mechanical energy. When this mechanical energy is used by any type of machinery like a pump then such a machine is known as a windmill. If the same mechanical energy is converted to electricity then the machine that does the conversion is called a wind generator or a wind turbine. It is also known as a wind energy converter (WEC) or a wind power unit (WPU).

Surprisingly the first use of the wind machines was for grinding grains as early as 200 B.C in Persia. It was also introduced in the prosperous and powerful Roman Empire in 250 A.D. The year 1900 saw the maximum number of windmills being used in Denmark. Almost 2700 windmills were installed to provide the much needed mechanical load to pumps and gave a peak power of 35MW.

Why turbines should be used to make electricity from wind

Wind turbines can effectively help in creating mechanical energy, which can be used for multiple purposes including assisting in the generation of power and electricity. Some of the other uses include:

  • One of the salient points is that there is only a one time installation cost after which the electricity that is produced using a wind turbine will be free.
  • It is a source of clean renewable energy that will not generate any greenhouse gases or emit carbon dioxide or even produce any dangerous wastes.
  • Each unit of electricity produced by a wind turbine displaces one from every conventional power station. Wind turbines have been commissioned in the UK and have been extremely successful in prevent the emission of almost one and a three-quarter millions tonnes of carbon dioxide every year.
  • Wind is a reliable and abundant source. UK being the windiest country in Europe has abundance of wind energy that can be used for making electricity.
  • Wind power contributes significantly to the overall energy generation in any country. Denmark is one of the countries that gets almost 20% of its electricity from wind power
  • Wind turbines use an extremely robust technology that is designed for operation locally as well as remotely and requires only periodic maintenance.

Wind turbines might be the answer for larger wind projects. For house owners there are diy kits that can be an alternativ when you are going to build wind generator.

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Who am I ?

Erik

Hi, I’m Erik Astrand and the man behind this site.

My story?
I am about to be 50 and all my life I have been interested in technical things. Not sure if the special interest for the wind, and how to use the wind, started when I as a 5 year old boy and got my first sail dinghy.

Anyway, wind power and to build my own wind generator was a dream for several years. I studied many websites and also bought many courses before I finally built my own windmill. This site is about that journey and you will also find some more general articles about wind power.

Enjoy! and check out the about me page to read more.

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