Energy comparison: wind turbines

Hello,

Finally, we are back with another energy comparison. Today we're looking at wind turbines. Wind power is a fast-growing renewable energy source. In the US, the wind power industry currently employs 120 000 people across all 50 states. It could grow to employ hundreds of thousands of people by 2050. 9% of the electricity in the US in 2021 came from wind turbines, that’s 136 000 megawatts. The wind power industry saves 329 million metric tons of carbon dioxide every year.

General knowledge and categorisation

We should probably start off by clarifying how wind turbines actually work and what types there are. I’m not going to give an in-depth description of how wind turbines work because I don’t want this post to turn into a physics lesson. To put it very simply, the wind turns the blades, which turns the rotor. The rotor then turns the generator, which converts the kinetic energy (movement) into electricity. There are obviously a lot more parts involved (up to 8000 of them) but this is the main idea.

There are two different types of wind turbines. Horizontal-axis turbines are the wind turbines that most people thought of when they saw the title of this post. Horizontal-axis turbines mostly have three blades that are about 60 metres long, and the turbine always turns to face the wind (upwind) to maximise electricity production. The second type of wind turbine is less commonly known. Vertical-axis turbines look quite different to horizontal-axis turbines. There are several designs. The main difference to their more common counterpart is the fact that they don’t turn to face the wind: it doesn’t matter what direction the wind is coming from.

Wind turbines can also be categorised into where they are installed. Land-based wind turbines normally range from 100 kilowatts to multiple megawatts. They can normally be found in wind plants made up of dozens of land-based wind turbines. Offshore wind turbines are out at sea. They make use of the incredibly strong ocean winds to produce large amounts of electricity. They are also very tall, often taller than the Statue of Liberty. The last category is distributed wind. This includes all set-ups that are close to where the power is then used. Small wind turbines, normally under 100 kilowatts, are installed in residential, agricultural and small commercial areas. They can also be used as part of hybrid energy systems, where they are combined with other energy sources such as solar, coal or water. These hybrid systems can typically be found in off-grid locations, so areas that aren’t connected to the national power grid.

Advantages

Wind is created by the sun warming the earth, the earth’s uneven landscape and the rotation of the earth. None of these factors are going to change any time soon, making wind an unending resource. It is definitely renewable. Wind turbines do not cause air pollution and do not need fuel, making them less damaging to the environment than fossil fuels, like coal and oil. Wind power is also cost-efficient, and its price isn’t as high as that of other energy sources.

Disadvantages

The sites with the most wind are often in remote places. Getting a construction team and all the needed materials out there and sending the gained electricity back can quickly become very expensive. They are also dangerous for birds. However, according to this article in a German newspaper, there are 10 000 - 100 000 deaths caused by wind turbines and 70 million deaths caused by cars annually. Most worryingly, the infrasound produced by the wind turbines has been theorised to cause health problems. This is still being studied and researched. Wind is also highly variable, meaning that the energy produced can flucatute massively in a matter of seconds if the wind also changes. This puts a strain on the power grid.

Conclusion

Wind turbines are a game changer when it comes to the shift to renewable energy sources. They provide hundreds of thousands of people with jobs. However, the infrasound theory should be thoroughly researched and hopefully proved wrong to avoid any unnecessary harm to the population.

We hope you enjoyed this post and see you next week.
Your Green World Blog Team💚

Sources:
https://www.energy.gov/eere/wind/advantages-and-challenges-wind-energy
https://www.energy.gov/eere/wind/wind-energy-basics
https://www.energy.gov/eere/wind/how-do-wind-turbines-work
https://www.energy.gov/eere/wind/articles/top-10-things-you-didnt-know-about-wind-power
https://www.zdf.de/nachrichten/politik/windkraft-deutschland-energiewende-grafik-100.html
https://www.umweltbundesamt.de/sites/default/files/medien/1968/publikationen/161128_uba_position_windenergiegesundheit.pdf
https://www.usgs.gov/faqs/what-materials-are-used-make-wind-turbines
https://www.energysage.com/about-clean-energy/wind/pros-cons-wind-energy/
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2023/09/230919154844.htm

Image: This image is owned by a blog editor.

Comments

Discussion || Should Everyone Switch To Electric Cars?

Hi Everyone! Thank you so much for joining me today, as I hop on the blog to discuss whether everyone switching to electric cars would really help the environment. In other words, should everyone switch to electric cars? This is the first part of a two-part series, discussing electric cars, so stay tuned for part two!! I would like to start this post by stating that I am by no means an expert. This is knowledge I have from my own experience, and from research I have done. If anything is incorrect please take it as it is and accept that this is a discussion and I am taking on board all opinions from reliable sources on this complex topic. Electric cars are a huge topic when it comes to sustainability and "saving our planet". There is no debating the fact that electric cars are better for the environment than diesel or petrol once they are on the road. But the production of them is often very polluting, with one study show...

Greta Thunberg's Speech at the UN Climate Action Summit 2019

Hi Everyone! I thought I would share the transcript of Greta Thunberg's inspiring speech from the UN Climate Action Summit. The phrase we remember is 'How dare you!'. But what did she really want us to take away from it? She wanted us to act, so watch the video using the link below and take action because the world isn't just going to heal itself. Greta Thunberg's speech at the UN Climate Action Summit video "My message is that we'll be watching you. This is all wrong. I shouldn't be up here. I should be back in school on the other side of the ocean. Yet you all come to us young people for hope. How dare you! You have stolen my dreams and my childhood with your empty words. And yet I'm one of the lucky ones. People are suffering. People are dying. Entire ecosystems are collapsing. We are in the beginning of a mass extinction, and all you can talk about is money and fairy tales of eternal economic g...

16.08.2020 Animal of the week: Elephant

Hello. On the 12th of August it was International Elephant Day, so we decided that this week's post should be about elephants. Elephants are the largest living land mammals. There are three types of elephant; the African bush elephant; the African forest elephant and the Asian elephant. African elephants have larger ears, whereas Asian elephants have smaller ears. Elephants use their trunks to breath, bring food and drink to their mouths and to grasp objects. Elephants' legs are like pillars. They carry the Elephant's massive weight. African bush elephants weigh 6000kg, Asian elephants weigh 4000kg and African forest elephants weigh 2700kg. Basically, they are very heavy.Elephants eat grasses, small plants, bushes, fruit, twigs, tree bark, and roots. Elephants can live up to 70 years old in the wild. They communicate by sight, touch and smell. Sadly, these wonderful mammals are in danger. African elephants are listed as vulne...

Eco system Galápagos: Part 1 Geography

Hello and welcome to the first post about the Galapagos Islands. Currents and Winds The volcanic islands of Galápagos started to form 4 million years ago. Where they lie, is unique. They are situated directly on the equator, on the Nazca tectonic plate. The Galapagos Islands are on the crossroads of three currents. The cold South Equatorial Current flows westward towards Galapagos. The warm Panama Current runs in from the north. And finally, the deep sea Cromwell Current runs from the west. The Galapagos Islands are also where the Northeast Trade Wind meets the Southeast Trade Wind. Galapagos Hotspot 21 Volcanoes make up the Galápagos Islands with 13 still active. The reason for this volcanic activity is a giant hotspot under the island. A hotspot is a gigantic column of super heated molten lava, rising up towards the surface. It is immense; at least sixty miles (97 kilometers) across and 1800 miles (2897 kilometers) deep. It connects the islands to ...

Announcement: Amazon Rainforest Series

How much do you know about trees? - Quiz

Hello, This month's quiz is all about trees. Questions: What is the name of the network that trees use to communicate? a) the mycorrhizal network b) the mythcorhinia network c) the symbocommunial network How much of the amazon rainforest has been lost due to deforestation in the last 50 years? a) 12% b) 17% c) 23% True or False? Over 75% of land-based species are found in forests? How much carbon do tropical forest contain? a) 230 gigatons b) 280 gigatons c) 330 gigatons In California, there is a rather strange tree that has survived 13 000 years by cloning itself. What species? a) Pin oak ;b) English oak c) Palmer's oak True or False? The oldest surviving tree species, Gingko trees, have been around since just after the meteor that killed off the dinosaurs struck. Where do acacia trees grow? a) cold and ha...

10 animals on the edge of extinction you didn't know about no.4 - Sumatran elephant

Hello everyone, This is the 4th post in our '10 animals on the edge of extinction you didn't know about'. Today we are going to be talking about Sumatran elephants. You've probably all heard about Sumatran tigers, which are also on the edge of extinction, but Sumatran elephants are much less well-known. Characteristics Sumatran elephants live for around 70 years and grow 2 - 3.2m tall. They weigh 2 000 to 4 000 kg and are the smallest subspecies of Asian Elephant. The males have tusks, however, these don't grow as long as their African counterparts. The females also have tusks but these are normally so small, that they are hidden under the upper lip. Sumatran elephants are herbivores, eating bark, bananas, young fresh leaves and occasionally various wild herbs. Social lives Elephants are very social and live in herds of 20 - 35 individuals. These herds are led by a dominant female. Males leave when reach adolescence, either willi...

Ozone layer

Hi everyone, What even is ozone? And the ozone layer? Where does the hole in the ozone layer come from and what does it mean? Is it dangerous? What can be done? Often the ozone-talk can be complicated and confusing, keeping an overview is hard and understanding all the problems always difficult. Let us break it down a bit for you: What is the ozone layer? We'll start with the basics: The ozone layer is part of the stratosphere, which is the second layer of the Earth's atmosphere, between 10 and 50 km above the Earth's surface and made up of protective gases. One of these protective gases is ozone. There is not much ozone in the atmosphere, only 0.3 molecule of ozone per 1 million molecules of air. This is because ozone is chemically unstable and only forms when ultra violet radiation (UV light) hits oxygen and breaks the bonds between the atoms. It fact it is so unstable that even when it has formed, it breaks down again relatively quickly. This leads to ozone turning back ...

Linking climate change and inequality - 'The Great Carbon Divide'

Hey everyone, Have you heard of 'The great carbon divide‘? It is often referred to as the 'carbon footprint gap' or the 'emissions imbalance‘, and produces frightening numbers. The great carbon divide describes the huge gap between the amount of carbon dioxide the rich versus the poor emit, and these numbers shocked even us. What does this mean? There have been many different studies, and all of them show terrifying results. One study from the Guardian and Oxfam, reports that the richest 1% of the world's population emit more carbon than the poorest 66%. The richest 1% consist of 77 million people, which may seem like a lot at first, but the poorest 66% refers to over 5 billion people! Africa, which is home to 17% of the world's population, only causes 4% of the world's emissions. This top 1% emitted 16% of global CO2 emissions in 2019, that's 5.9 billion tonnes of CO2. Modelling suggests that it would take someone who isn't in the top 1% about 150...

Climate change: what is it and what's the problem

Hello, I've noticed that we are always mentioning climate change. Not only us blog editors but also politicians, activists and so on. The words climate change are bounced around in the media and probably in your households, but do you actually know what it is or how it works? I know that for a long time, I didn't know what it really meant. I hope that this post changes that. What is climate change and how does it work? The words climate change describe a slow shift in the earth's temperature and changes in the weather patterns. Having a single warm winter does not instantly mean climate change. Climate change happens over a long period of time. If you look at a temperature graph over the years, it doesn't go up in one day and then stay the same for another hundred years. It curves up slowly but steadily. This is a average temperature graph from 1880 to just after 2000. You can see how the temperature gradually gets warmer....

Green World

Search This Blog