Building a new World with environmentally clean and renewable energy technologies

Wind Power Introduction

Wind power is the conversion of wind energy into a useful form, such as electricity, using wind turbines. Wind power produces about 1.5% of worldwide electricity use, and is growing rapidly, having doubled in the three years between 2005 and 2008. Several countries have achieved relatively high levels of wind power penetration, such as 19% of stationary electricity production in Denmark, 11% in Spain and Portugal, and 7% in Germany and the Republic of Ireland in 2008. As of May 2009, eighty countries around the world are using wind power on a commercial basis.

Large-scale wind farms are typically connected to the local electric power transmission network; smaller turbines are used to provide electricity to isolated locations. Utility companies increasingly buy back surplus electricity produced by small domestic turbines. Wind energy as a power source is attractive as an alternative to fossil fuels, because it is plentiful, renewable, widely distributed, clean, and produces no greenhouse gas emissions; however, the construction of wind farms (as with other forms of power generation) is not universally welcomed due to their visual impact and other effects on the environment such as killing of birds and bats. However some argue that birds killed by windfarms are far less in number when compared to windows on highrisers or pesticides used in agriculture. Because the investment needed to create energy from wind turbines is currently cheaper compared to solar panels, it is expected that the utilization of wind turbines will increase rapidly at suitable places where wind is plenty. At the same time, electronic repellers can be installed on them to repell birds and bats.