Solution Wind Turbines - Essay Example

Solution" Wind Turbines Insert Insert Insert Insert Line of Inquiry Non-renewable energy sources form the most popular and commonly used form of energy in the world. Most non-renewable energy comes from fossil fuels such as coal, petroleum and natural gas. These sources of energy are not replenished meaning they would get depleted with time. It is time for people to think about alternative sources of energy that could replace fossil fuels. The main element in non-renewable energy is carbon. Carbon is a major contributor to greenhouse effect and global warming. Emissions from non-renewable energy sources produce large amounts of carbon thus; non-renewable energy sources have the potential to contribute to global warming. These emissions are also detrimental to the environment. Fossil fuels reserves are getting depleted and the use of nonrenewable energy sources affects the environment. The best alternative to fossil fuels is adoption of renewable energy sources. Renewable energy sources are environmental friendly and sustainable. These energy sources are constantly replenished therefore, can provide sustainable alternatives to fossil fuels (Moomaw, et al., 2011). Examples of potential renewable energy solutions include solar, water and wind. Many countries are tapping wind energy as a source of renewable energy sources. This paper focuses on using wind turbines to tap wind energy as a source of renewable energy. Photo showing a wind farm with turbines for generating electricity (source: www.telegraph.co.uk) Advantages of wind turbines Wind turbines enable people to tap a natural energy resource and convert it to electricity. Wind is an inexhaustible energy resource that can replace fossil fuels as a source of sustainable energy. Wind turbines also generate electricity in a manner that does not harm the environment. Wind turbines do not emit any emissions or gases that could affect the environment or lead to greenhouse effect. This makes the use of wind turbines a sustainable and feasible means to generate electricity. In addition to generating electricity from wind energy, land turbines can perform other tasks e.g. irrigation and farming activities. Disadvantages of wind turbines The main constraint on the adoption of wind turbines for generating energy is its cost in relation to conventional energy sources. The capital costs for installing wind turbines is very high especially if the country seeks to generate huge amount of electricity from wind energy. This poses challenges to countries that seek to tap wind energy for their alternative source of electricity. Maintenance costs of wind turbines are also very high. Most wind turbines are made of expensive mechanical parts that undergo wear and tear easily due to their work load. This in turn increase maintenance costs of these machines (Blanco, 2009). The high costs of installing wind turbines for electricity generation are because of the high cost of manufacturing and developing wind turbines. The increased demand for wind turbines worldwide also contributes to the high costs of installing wind energy centers. Peoples opinions regarding wind turbines Due to the social issues arising from using wind turbines to generate electricity, wind power utilization receives a lot of opposition especially from residents near wind farms. Most of this opposition arises from the fact that most turbines have large blades. Most residents near wind farms argue that such large wind turbines prevent visibility of the landscape thus, decreasing property values in these areas (Carol and Hoen, 2014). Residents close to wind farms also launch complains regarding noise emitted by large wind turbines. Though most wind turbines emit low pitch sound, at the night these noises can be very significant. There are complains of “wind farm syndrome” from residents close to wind farms. These are a variety of health conditions caused by infrasound generated by the wind turbines. The issues with Wind Turbines Although wind turbines offer environmental friendly means to tap wind energy, there are social and technical issues related to using wind turbines for energy generation. Most wind turbines are very large and sit on high towers. This creates visual problems particularly on the landscape and decrease property values (Carol and Hoen, 2014). The second social issue with wind turbines is the noise. The potential of wind turbines to generate noise especially at night is a social issue affecting the adoption of wind energy as a sustainable alternative energy source. The third issue is the effect of wind turbines on wildlife. Wind turbines have large rotating blades that can be hazardous to birds. The blades can kill a large number birds and bats flying near wind farms. Wind turbines require large amounts of land mostly 10-30 acres per turbine. There are also technical issues related to wind turbines. Wind variability is an important factor determining widespread use of wind energy. Due to variability of wind, wind turbines do not power constantly. Even if the wind is present, it may be rarely steady. The other technical issues related to wind turbines is grid variability. The best areas to tap wind energy usual tend to be far from transmission lines that connect wind turbines to grid systems. Power generated from wind turbines is also variable. This may be a problem to electrical grid systems designed for uniform and predictable power generation systems. Countries with Wind Turbines and their effects The use of wind turbines to tap wind energy is increasing especially in developed countries. The largest wind power producers include Germany, USA, Denmark, UK and Spain. The highest proportion of wind power comes from Denmark. In 2012, Danish wind turbines generated a lot of power contributing to 30 percent of total power consumption in the country. Denmark has the world’s largest wind turbine industry. The industry employs a lot of people and contributes significantly to Denmark’s national economy. Vestas and Siemens Wind Power are the largest wind turbine manufacturers in Denmark. Germany is the other country that uses wind turbines to generate power. There are technological advancements in Germany that sees the country replace first generation wind turbines with recent multi-megawatt turbines that generate large amount of power. This would significantly contribute to Germany’s electricity needs. Germany has more than 21,000 wind turbines that generate more than 29,075 MW of electricity. Spain and USA also started building wind turbines that are more efficient in tapping wind energy and generating electricity. Spain, Germany, Denmark and Netherlands re-focused their turbine production by manufacturing small medium sized turbines. These turbines were more efficient and could produce more electricity. Most countries manufactured turbines in relation to the Danish wind energy concept (Neij and Anderson, 2012). The effect of using wind turbines to generate electricity is that wind energy contributed supplemental electricity for these countries. This played an important role in energy cost savings thus, boosting their economies. Most technologies in these countries focused on building smaller turbines to reduce the cost of electricity generation. Graph: countries using wind turbines to generate electricity. List of references Blanco, M. (2009). The Economics of wind energy. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Review,13, 1372-1382. Carol, C., & Hoen, B. (2014). Relationship between Wind Turbines and Residential Property Values in Massachusetts. University of Connecticut and Lawrence Berkely National Laboratory. Moomaw, W., Yamba, F., Kamimoto, M., Maurice, L., Nyboer, J., Urama, K., et al. (2011). Introduction. In O. Edenhofer, R. Pichs-Madruga, Y. Sokona, & C. von Stechow, IPCC Special report on Renewable Enrgy Sources and Climate Change Mitigation. Cambridge,Uk and New York,USA: Cambridge University Press. Neij, L., & Anderson, P. (2012). A Comparative Assessment of Wind Turbine Innovation and Diffusion Policies. In A. Grubler, F. Aguayo, K. Gallagher, M. Hekket, K. Jiang, L. Myteika, et al., Historical Case Studies of Energy Technology Innovation. Cambridge,UK: Cambidge University Press. Read More