How Does Wind Power Work?

With so much talk about global warming and oil reliance, it has become necessary to truly go full force in our efforts to implement renewable energy sources. Two of the main sources of renewable energy are solar and wind power. The purpose of this article is focus on one of those sources, wind power, to give an overview of what wind power is and how it works.

Wind itself is produced as the atmosphere of the earth is heated and cooled. As hotter air rises, cooler air settles near the earth's surface creating a shift in the atmospheric pressure. This is wind. Wind power is what is generated when the "motion" of the wind (the wind blowing) is harnessed and converted into a useable form of power.

The easiest way to capture wind power is through the use of windmills. Windmills generally have three blades, which are connected to a drive train and generator. That assembly is attached to a base, which is stuck in the ground.

As the blades catch the wind, they begin to turn the drive train, which generates electricity. The electricity is then transferred to existing power lines where it combines with power from other sources. Though this is a relatively simple process, the effects can be profound.

Depending on the size of the blades, a windmill can generate approximately 250 watts to more than 5 megawatts (5 million watts). To put this into perspective, an energy efficient light bulb (one of those curly ones) requires about 25 watts to run. Simple math states that the wind turbine generates enough electricity to run ten energy efficient light bulbs.

The numbers might be a little off though, as the windmill obviously needs wind to run. Accounting for mechanical efficiency loss, the windmill could probably power seven or eight light bulbs. If that is true, then imagine how much energy one 5-megawatt windmill could produce!

Practically speaking, though, what does this mean and how would this work on a residential scale? An average household uses around 10,000 kWh a year of electricity. One or two small windmills (windmills with blades of 8 meters or less) in an area with average wind speed could easily generate most if not all of the energy required to power a home for an entire year! What is amazing is that if the windmills generate excess electricity, the power companies will buy it back.

The purpose of this article was to provide a brief overview of what wind power is and how it works. Wind power can be a beneficial, economic way to power a home, a neighborhood, or even an entire town. Some disadvantages, though, are that the windmills are not visually appealing and the costs to have one installed can be a mystery. That being said, wind power looks to be a real alternative to using fossil fuels and needs to be implemented on a larger scale to create a greener earth.