What is Wind Power?

Wind power represents a clean source of renewable energy. It is an effective way to generate electricity, and some commentators believe it to be better than plants fueled by coal, water or nuclear power.

Wind power begins with the sun. It’s a form of solar power because wind is caused by heat from the sun. The sun’s solar radiation heats every part of the earth’s surface but not evenly or at the same speed. Depending on the land surface (soil, sand, water and stone) -the heat is gathered and released at different rates. What this means is that the earth tends to get warmer during the daytime and cooler at nighttime.

As a result, the air above the earth’s surface also warms and cools at different rates. Hot air rises, reducing the atmospheric pressure near the earth’s surface, which draws in cooler air to replace it. That movement of air is what we call wind.

Wind power is very versatile. Kinetic energy is caused when the air moves which causes wind. Kinetic energy is the energy that is created whenever mass is in motion. When we bring in the right technology, the wind’s kinetic energy can be caught and converted to other forms of energy such as electricity or mechanical power. This is what we call wind power.

Wind power was used in the early windmills of Europe, China and Persia to pump water and grind grain. Today wind farms use wind turbines to create energy to power homes and businesses.

Wind power is so clean and renewable that it should be an important part of any long-term energy strategy. Because wind power is a natural, clean and inexhaustible source of power it is ideal for producing electricity, especially in comparison to the traditional fossil fuel burning power plants.

As mentioned, wind power generation is clean. It causes no air, water or soil pollution. That’s an important difference with other renewable sources of energy like nuclear power which produces a large amount of very hard-to-manage waste products.

One of the problems to using wind power for our electricity is that wind farms must be located on large tracts of land or along coastlines to capture the greatest wind movement. If these types of lands are devoted to wind power to produce electricity then they often conflict with other priorities, such as agriculture, urban development or waterfront views from expensive homes.

The need for clean, renewable energy is increasing. The world is aggressively seeking alternatives to the finite supplies of oil, coal and natural gas.

As the cost of wind power continues to decline, due to technology improvements and better generation techniques, wind power will become increasingly feasible as a major source of electricity and mechanical power.