Advantages and Disadvantages of Wind Power
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Like every form of power generation, wind-generated electrical power offers several advantages, as well as some disadvantages and drawbacks. Read on to learn more about each of these aspects...
ADVANTAGES
1. The use of wind turbines does not generate pollution or radioactive waste like most other forms of electricity generation do. Their construction and installation has less environmental impact as well.
2. Wind power may be used to provide electricity to individual homes or other facilities on a self-reliant basis, with no need for fuel or other materials to be supplied. If a natural disaster severs power lines, residents with windmills will not lose their supply of electricity.
3. Wind can also generate power for large numbers of people, using larger turbines connected to an electrical grid. This allows individuals to take advantage of some of their benefits without personally owning or maintaining the equipment.
4. Another one of its advantages is that this type of power generation does not consume any non-renewable resources, like coal, natural gas, or oil. Thus, it won't contribute to their eventual depletion, nor does it promote environmental harm brought about by obtaining these resources.
DISADVANTAGES
1. Some people consider the turbines to have an undesirable appearance, especially when there are very tall units and/or large groups of them. The same could be said for coal or nuclear power plants, but these are concentrated into a smaller number of facilities.
2. Another of the disadvantages is that they can be damaged in thunderstorms, partially because of their tall, thin shape. The website of the National Lightning Safety Institute indicates that most damage to wind turbines is caused by lightening. This is more of a problem in warmer parts of the world, where they are frequent.
3. The blades of wind turbines can hit birds who attempt to fly between them. However, it should be kept in mind that birds are also affected by the disadvantages of other power generation methods, especially pollution.
4. Some turbines produce noise; according to a white paper issued by the University of Massachusetts at Amherst Renewable Energy Research Laboratory, noise varies from one turbine to the next, and is more likely to be problematic when the wind speed is low.
OVERALL
Basically, wind power has a number of advantages and provides an inexpensive, self-reliant method of generating electricity with relatively little maintenance. However, there are some disadvantages with regard to birds, thunderstorms, and the appearance of turbines. It is not always windy, so a combination of solar and/or hydroelectric with wind power can provide a more consistent supply of renewable energy.
Sources:
1. University of Massachusetts at Amherst,
http://www.ceere.org/rerl/publications/whitepapers/Wind_Turbine_Acoustic_Noise_Rev2006.pdf
2. National Lightening Safety Institute,
http://www.lightningsafety.com/nlsi_lhm/wind1.html
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Comments
THIS IS VERY INTERESTING!!!!!COOOL!!!
It would be great if people could add their own wind power to the grid, but in many states the fees for net metering make it impractical. And in Texas we are finding that the best places for wind energy are in the western half of the state, but the power lines to bring it back to the population centers are not going to be adequate for much longer.
This is a very informative article. i am using it for a class right now. It is full of brilliant information.
Great article, I will also be using it to help with a project I am doing on wind power! Woo!
There are some big-ish windfarms in Cornwall, and I don't think they spoil the view at all. If anything, the turbines look graceful and majestic - and they're certainly a lot better than monstrous cooling towers belching out fumes.
If only people were less against off-shore windfarms :-(
I've seen some windfarms on the drive to sheffield past barnsley but I think they should be put out in the sea, away from shipping lanes obviously. You get more wind on the seas than land I think anyway
Good information, nice hub overall. Nice Job!
Personally, I think that the wind-power idea is great. I want one for my house, and those people that say that they don't look good...I would rather see windmils than hydro wires.
I see that people are thinking that wind power will be the answer, but currently the technology is still not quite there yet to make it viable on grid systems.
One of the hugest cons is that it is an intermittent source of energy, and the variable load brings a lot more inefficiency to the grid than normal plants. The cost of this variable is unknown, but it would place the MW efficiency of a turbine at 30-50% of its full ability.
Also, the blads are made of steel, and steel is increasingly becoming more expensive on the markets.
Not huge cons, but these situations to impede the development of more turbines. Hopefully, there will be better storage systems to take on the extra capacity of wind farms in the future, and hopefully they could become a major suppply of energy in the future.
I think that the main problem of wind farms is the efficiency - although you compared them to coal based or nuclear power plants, It is still a lot less efficient than they. The energy that can be produced by a wind turbine varies with the wind, and it is very low comparing the the size of the device.
Wind turbines costs ALOT to build, and even if they did put the up everywhere they would never produce enough energy to sustain a growing economy. we need to pool all renewable energy sources NOW otherwise there wont be a tomorrow
Perhaps it isn't realistic to have a perpetually "growing" economy and population...
Very interesting article!
really nice information...its really nice
thanx for this nice hub...
does anyone know where wind power is feasible and where it is not feasible?
The disadvantages are way less than the advantages.
Wind is just annoying in some areas of the country, so we might as well get some benefit from it.
Good information, I agree that wind turbines are the way forward, however surely lightning isn't that big of a problem because the turbines can be earthed so that lightning doesn't damage them?
Very good article , and very good comment tho ...
My senior proj is abt the wind power ... i think that wind power is very revolutionary and technlogical idea which can provide a green , clean future for our sons
10x body .. keep it going
The top three states for wind are North Dakota, Texas and Kansas. The tower of a 1 MW generator is made of steel but the blades are not. They are made of carbon fiber and fiberglass. The lighter and stronger the blade, the more efficient they become. In Texas there is a wind farm with 3 MW turbines.
that was really interesting!!!!
this helped me a lottt on my project i'm doing on wind power for school.
thanks ;]
oioi thsi wind power is okayy but a cool article :]
Wind power does have lots of benefits but I think that solar is the overall way to go. But then we should not focus on only one energy solution since it is possible to combine many to meet the needs we have.
wind energy is definetly a possible future power scource and hopefully will replace all the polluting methods we currently use also wind energy is the fastest growing energy source in the world
solar energy is good but i would take up hundreds of acres of land to produce enough energy to power a small city
sweet!!!
And what if there is no wind ? You need to have backup sources such as coal or nuclear. Even areas that are very windy sometimes have no wind. This means that you need to have extensive backup which makes things very expensive.
great article
i liked this article it was very informational and helpful 4 homework
Well, first of all anyone who is doing a class project, or speech in my case, on renewable energy knows that this site kicks butt. It's exactly what I'm looking for on such a short notice to boot. Got the speech Monday, we'll see how it turns out. Fingers crossed, tongue sticking out to the side... we'll see.
:) i love wind power! (: :) it is great. (:
what about viability?
You did a great job pointing out both the cons and pros of wind power. Why not benefit from our natural resources like wind rather than polluting the earth. Great information.
optimisticbob says:
18 months ago
Well balanced hub covering pros and cons. I lean towards sustainable energy solutions and would argue that beauty is in the eye of the beholder, current energy suppliers are subject to climate, and birds are smarter than we give them credit for.
Great hub - keep posting.