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Wind

Wind power harnesses the energy of the wind through various methods that have been used for generations, from sails and kites to modern wind turbines. Early windmills used cloth or wooden panels tilted to catch the wind and harness its energy for tasks like grinding grain. Today, large ships are testing kites that deploy from the front to improve efficiency and reduce fuel consumption by pulling the ships along in the wind. When deciding if wind power is appropriate, factors like the available resource and installation location must be considered, as electricity generation may not always be practical but other uses of wind energy like grinding seeds are still effective.

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44 views

Wind

Wind power harnesses the energy of the wind through various methods that have been used for generations, from sails and kites to modern wind turbines. Early windmills used cloth or wooden panels tilted to catch the wind and harness its energy for tasks like grinding grain. Today, large ships are testing kites that deploy from the front to improve efficiency and reduce fuel consumption by pulling the ships along in the wind. When deciding if wind power is appropriate, factors like the available resource and installation location must be considered, as electricity generation may not always be practical but other uses of wind energy like grinding seeds are still effective.

Uploaded by

costi.sorescu
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Wind Power

Wind power is a valuable and in some places consistent


source of energy, which we have generations of
experience using. The wind is really a form of solar
energy: the sun heats up some patches of air, causing
circulation currents in the air, which blow across our
fields and valleys. The principles behind harnessing
some of that energy can be fairly simple: a cloth hung
on a mast catches the wind as a sail, and fabric on a
rope does the same as a kite. Early windmills had pieces
of cloth hung on wooden panels, tilted at a slight angle
to harness that caught wind as a turning motion useful
for a variety of tasks, such as grinding corn or pumping
water.
Some of those “old” ways of using the wind are still
around today and some are even getting a new life
because of their environmental benefits (Figure 12-1).
Large freight ships are reportedly testing large kites that
deploy from the front of the ship and pull it along, for
use on the open ocean to reduce fuel consumption.
The kites fly high in the air, because winds are more
Figure 12-1 This children’s kite demonstrates an idea
that people think has currency on a large scale. The
turbine in the center of the kite spins in the wind,
possibly generating electricity in a larger version.
constant at higher altitudes, and don’t replace the ship’s
engines, just improve the overall efficiency. They are not
exactly like the sailing ships of old, but they are a step
in the right direction. Efficiency gains are important, as
is remembering that the vast majority of our global trade
once happened because of the wind. When we speak of
an economy powered by renewable energy sources, it is
something we hope for the future, as well as something
we had in the past.
Depending on your needs and the available resource
at your site, there are a number of important factors to
consider when deciding if wind is the most appropriate
energy source for your task. If it is, there are several
options available to you, depending on what needs doing.
In many cases installations will be close to electricity
lines and, as we’ve discussed already, whether it is
possible to feed electricity back onto the grid depends
largely on your local utility, so is not always practical.
But electricity isn’t the only way to do useful work. If
you decide to go down the biofuel route to fuelling your
car, discussed later in the book, you might think about
going so far as to produce your own oil from seeds. As in
the past, grinding seeds is a fantastic job for the wind, so
long as your design is appropriate. Like pumping water,
grinding works well with a high-torque, low-speed sort
of motion. Electricity tends to prefer a high-speed lowtorque sort of motion, so the types of machines that do
each job can look quite different.
Medium and large two- and three-spar wind turbines
that produce electricity are beginning to dot the
landscape and are becoming familiar to people
everywhere (see Figure 12-2). These blades use the
same effect as an airplane wing to produce lift from the
passing wind and are very efficient at moderate to high
winds. The shape of an airplane wing (Figure 12-3)
causes a pressure to build up on one side and air to
move faster around the long end of the wing, to create
lift. The lift that enables airplanes to fly is directed in a
circle on a turbine blade to cause it to spin.

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