How Wind Power Works

Harvesting wind power is something that humanity has been doing for ages. In fact, using wind power goes as far back as the invention of the sail boat which uses wind to move across water. With an increase in global temperatures and a decrease in available fossil fuels, people are once again starting to look toward wind power as a viable source of energy.

History of Wind Power

Using wind for more aspiring purposes began between 1 and 100 A.D. There are records of windmills going as far back as the Ancient Persians and Chinese. As time went on, harnessing wind power via mills became the first major "machinery" and reduced the need for manual labor around the world.

From 1800 to 1900s, farms and ranchers used wind power to move water for agriculture, livestock, or the home. There were even successful attempts of using wind power to create electricity. Unfortunately, at the time the energy provided by wind power was not enough to complete with fossil fuel burning plants.

Wind Power Today

Thanks to climate change, geo politics, and a decrease in oil supply people are looking into wind power as a source of alternative energy again. Countries such as Spain and Germany have already been able to produce up to 15% of their energy through wind farming.

So how exactly does harvesting wind power work? By building wind turbines as high as they can go, they can capture all of the energy of the wind. The wind then spins the turbines resulting in the activation of a generator. The generator then converts energy into electricity where it flows down the shaft of the wind turbine into a transformer. In the final step wind flows into the national electric grid.

Benefits of Wind Power

Besides the obvious environmental reasons, there are also many monetary reasons to invest in wind power. For instance, by allowing wind farms to be built on their land, farmers can earn extra money by harvesting wind and still be able to harvest crops. A farmer can earn about 29 times more money per acre by harvesting wind than by harvesting corn. Furthermore, in 2008 the wind industry generated about $50.2 billion in sales and attracted $32 billion in investments. That's nothing to sneeze at for a relatively new industry.

As for other benefits wind energy is clean, renewable, and best of all free. Additionally, the price of wind power is not determined by a volatile world market like oil is. And finally, wind energy is local which would help reduce U.S. dependence on foreign oil.

Since wind power is still a growing industry, it is not yet able to replace fossil fuels. However, even the wind energy being used today puts a dent in humanity's dependence on fossil fuels. Best of all, with advancing technology we can look forward to wind power becoming cheaper and more efficient.

Sources:
ChaCha
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