Wind Energy Facts

Wind Energy Facts-Early History
Wind energy has been an important resource for over 5,000 years. In ancient Egypt, wind energy was used to provide power for sailing ships on the Nile River. Windmills were later used to grind wheat and corn. The early windmills were crude in design, resembling the paddle wheels that are seen on old-time river steamers today. In Holland, the windmill design was improved greatly, with blades that rotated, and with the ability to orient the windmill into the wind. It was the use of windmills that enabled Holland to become an industrialized nation by the 17th century.

Wind Energy-20th Century America
In the United States, the early settlers used windmills for grinding grain, pumping water, and cutting wood. During the 1920’s, Americans used windmills to generate electricity in outlying regions that had no electricity. In fact, rural windmills can still be seen on farms and ranches today. During the 1970’s, oil shortages created a worldwide interest in alternative energy sources. Wind energy gained widespread interest in California, where state policies in the 1980’s encouraged renewable energy sources. Other states have since encouraged renewable energy development; however, California still utilizes twice the wind energy resources as other states. Today, wind energy is considered one of America’s greatest natural assets.

Wind Energy Comes from the Sun
As the sun heats the earth’s surface unevenly, the hot air rises, and the cold air moves in to create areas of high and low pressure. These pressure variations create conditions that allow the air to move from high pressure regions to low pressure regions. Therefore, wind energy is considered a form of solar energy. As long as the sun continues to shine, the wind will continue to blow, creating an unlimited supply of free, clean wind energy. About 1.5% of the sun’s energy is converted to wind energy, which can then produce enough electricity to meet three times world’s needs.

Wind Energy is Clean, Free, Renewable, & Unlimited
Because no pollutants are involved, wind energy is considered a clean source for generating electrical power. Wind energy is also totally free, and is a supply of renewable energy. It is considered renewable energy, since the source is virtually inexhaustible—as long as the sun shines, wind energy will be available. Wind energy is also considered an environmentally friendly (green) source of electrical power. Because of the unlimited nature of solar energy, the supply of wind energy is also unlimited. The facts of wind energy are that it is a clean, free, renewable, and unlimited supply of energy that can be easily used to power wind the turbines that generate electrical power.

The Potential for Wind Energy is Huge
The possibilities for using wind energy to generate electrical power in the United States are virtually unlimited. It is estimated that the wind energy potential in the US alone is approximately 37 trillion kilowatt-hours of electricity per year which is almost 10 times our existing power need. Currently, the actual installed wind energy production capacity in the US is approximately 42,400 MW. That is enough, however, to provide the electric needs for approximately 10 million households or in other words provide the electric needs for the states of Oklahoma, Tennessee or Virginia. America’s wind power capacity grew by 15% in 2010 which resulted in 26% share of all the new US electric capacity installed for the year. Installing one wind turbine allows the average homeowner to easily reduce the cost of supplying his home with electrical power.