Your Green Life

When we see the words, “Wind Energy,” most of us think of wind mills and don’t think much of the sun. Wind energy, however, is really a form of solar energy that has been converted into kinetic energy which can be used as an alternative energy source. As the radiation of the sun’s rays heats different parts of our planet, the hot air will rise and the cooler air will rush in to replace it producing wind. Since air has mass, when it is moving, that movement can be used to create mechanical force or electricity.

How Does a Wind Energy System Work?

A system designed to create energy from the wind will take the movement of the wind, or kinetic energy, and use it to create either mechanical or electrical energy. The traditional usage of a windmill in the United States was to help move water, but today includes generating electricity on the individual or regional scale. There have been two designs of wind mills or wind turbines that have become prevalent in use: the horizontal-axis or traditional looking windmill, and the vertical axis or egg-beater style windmill. Each wind turbine system will consist of a rotor that is used to take the wind’s energy and create rotational shaft energy, a nacelle that has the drive train and generator, a support tower, and various electronic equipment depending on how the electricity is going to be used. As the energy is created and transferred to the drive train and generator, it can then be part of the electrical grid in your home once converted to 120 V AC current or stored as DC current in a battery for future use. On wind farms, it will be mixed with the electricity produced by other power plants to be delivered to customers. Some of the larger wind turbines being tested in the later 2000’s can produce 5,000 kW of power. Most windmills have towers that are made of steel with fiberglass poly or wood-epoxy blades.

How Large Does a Wind Turbine Have to Be?

The windmills or wind turbines used for large scale commercial purposes will range from a 50 to 90 meter diameter of the blades with towers approximately the same height. The larger windmills would stand at approximately 440 feet in height. There has been testing for off-shore windmills to stand another 60 feet in height. Wind turbines for use at the home are normally much smaller and have a diameter of 8 meters and smaller depending on the amount of electricity that needs to be created.

How Much Power Do Wind Turbines Make?

The total output of a windmill or wind turbine will depend on how big the turbine is and the wind speed in the area. The current windmills being produced have a rating of 5 MW. These turbines can produce up to 15 million kWatts of power in a year which can power up to 1,400 average households in the United States. The average electrical consumption in the United States is approximately 10,000 kWatts. In order to produce electricity near the total rating of the wind turbine, an average annual wind speed of more than 9mph is required, so wind turbines are not necessarily suitable for use in all areas.