Wind

Wind Power has been a great source of energy throughout history. For example sailboats and windmills have played important roles as alternative energy sources. Wind Power generates less than .1% of the worlds’ electricity today, although it is becoming more popular. Denmark, Sweden and the United States are the leading users of wind power. China, Greece, India and the Netherlands also use wind power as a source of energy. The common way of extracting this energy is through Wind Farms.

Wind Farms:

How does it work?

Modern wind turbines are machines that
include blades and a rotor connected to an electrical
generator and a control system. All of this is placed
on top of a tall tower. Wind Farms are pieces of
land with wind powered turbines all over them.

Advantages:

	Generate billions of kilowatt hrs. of electricity per year at competitive prices. The cost of wind-derived electricity has decreased in the last 10 years.
	Safe.
	Environmentally Benign.
	Agricultural farms and wind farms can coexist peacefully on the same land.

Disadvantages:

	Noisy, ugly, destroy appreciative qualities of surrounding landscape.
	Increase in death of birds.
	Unreliable nature of the energy source. (Wind speeds and directions are subject to oscillation.)
	Can’t be developed in some areas because of insufficient winds.