Wind Energy Facts
As of 2003, wind power was the fastest growing form of electricity generation on a percentage basis in the U.S.
Wind energy is very expensive to set up, so it requires significant amounts of capital to establish wind farms. After the initial investment and startup costs, however, it is one of the cheapest forms of electricity generation to maintain.
In 2005, wind accounted for 1% of the total electricity production in the world
The largest wind turbines, such as the one built in Hawaii, has propellers that span the more than the length of a football field and stands 20 building stories high, and produces enough electricity to power 1400 homes.
An average wind speed of 14mph is required to convert wind energy into electricity.
There is evidence that wind energy was used to propel boats along the Nile as early as 5000BC.
The UK is the windiest country in Europe, so much so that they could power the whole country several times over using wind energy.
The opposition usually met from a proposed wind farm development comes down to the "NIMBY" factor (not in my backyard).
Wind Energy Facts
Understanding Wind Energy
It's important to understand what wind energy is and what it is not, the historical context of wind energy around the world, and where we will get our energy in the future. You will find the most current energy facts on this website.
Wind Energy 101
Wind power is the conversion of wind energy into a useful form, such as electricity, using wind turbines.
Wind energy as a power source is favoured by many environmentalists as an alternative to fossil fuels, as it is plentiful, renewable, widely distributed, clean, and produces lower greenhouse gas emissions, although the construction of wind farms is not universally welcomed due to their visual impact and other effects on the environment.
Humans have been using wind power for at least 5,500 years to propel sailboats and sailing ships, and architects have used wind-driven natural ventilation in buildings since similarly ancient times. The use of wind to provide mechanical power came somewhat later in antiquity.
Wind Energy 201
The strength of wind varies, and an average value for a given location does not alone indicate the amount of energy a wind turbine could produce there. To assess the frequency of wind speeds at a particular location, a probability distribution function is often fit to the observed data. Different locations will have different wind speed distributions. The Rayleigh model closely mirrors the actual distribution of hourly wind speeds at many locations.
Good selection of a wind turbine site is critical to economic development of wind power. Aside from the availability of wind itself, other factors include the availability of transmission lines, value of energy to be produced, cost of land acquisition, land use considerations, and environmental impact of construction and operations. Off-shore locations may offset their higher construction cost with higher annual load factors, thereby reducing cost of energy produced. Wind farm designers use specialized wind energy software applications to evaluate the impact of these issues on a given wind farm design.