Wind is a current of air that is moving across the earth's surface. It is caused by the irregular heating of the earth's surface by the sun. The surface of the earth is made up of different types of land and water, thus, it absorbs the sun's heat at different intensity.

At daytime, the air over the water heats up slowly than that of above the land. The warm air over the land expands and goes up while the cooler air takes place and creates winds. At night, the air cools slowly over the water than it is over the land.

But what is wind energy and how does it work? Actually, wind energy converts kinetic energy in the wind into more useful energy form such as mechanical or electricity. This type of energy is a pollution - free and an unlimitedly sustainable form of energy. It doesn't use fuel, thus does not produce greenhouse gases, toxic and radioactive wastes.

Early uses of wind energy are evident on windmills that are used to grind grains, generators and water pumps. Today, machines that use wind energy are called wind turbine generators and wind pumps generally known as wind turbines.

Now, you might be asking yourself on how wind energy works. The wind is an energy motion present in moving air. The amount of potential energy depends on the speed of the wind and is slightly affected by the density of air. It can be determined using barometric pressure, air temperature and altitude.

The power and energy output in wind turbines noticeably increases as the wind speed increases. Thus, the most cost effective wind turbines are located in the windiest areas. If you will observe, wind turbines are usually located on tall towers since local terrain greatly affect the speed of the wind.

The following are the step by step procedure on how wind energy works.

• The blades turn as the wind blows and hit them.
• The blades turn a pipe inside the box at the top of the turbine.
• The pipe goes into a gearbox and here, the speed of the rotation becomes rapid
• The rapid speed of the rotation makes the generator converts the rotational into an electrical energy, using magnetic fields.
• The power product goes to a transformer and from there, the electricity coming out of the generator is converted at around 700 Volts (V) to 33 000V, which is the typical amount of voltage needed for distribution system.
• Finally, the power is transmitted around the country by the help of a national grid.

This is how wind energy works and just enough for you to know the basics. The instruments needed to measure the wind speed and direction is located on the top of the nacelle. When the direction of the wind changes, the motors turn the nacelle and the blades then go along with it. Brakes are also useful to nacelle so that the turbines can be switched off in very high winds especially during storms. This is to avoid damages and other circumstances.

Usually, there is a data base or control system monitoring the information on the performance of the turbine. As such, the people do not have to visit the turbine most of the time. This is commonly done by local firms.

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