Wind Energy Source: Why is Wind Energy Source Important For You?

Problems with conventional sources of energy

For hundreds of years, humans have depended upon non-renewable resources to fulfill their energy needs.  Non renewable resources, by definition, are natural resources which cannot be replenished on a scale which can sustain the rate at which they are consumed. Traditionally, fossil fuels- coal, natural gas and petroleum- have been exploited the most, and continue to be so, even today. If their use continues at the current rate, their reserves will soon blow out. Apart from scarcity, production of electricity by burning fossil fuels generates green house gases and pollutes the environment. It is important, therefore, to turn to more sustainable forms of energy, which use renewable natural resources, like wind energy source.

The advantages of harnessing wind energy to produce electricity are many-fold. Besides being free, renewable and plentiful, wind energy source is widely distributed, clean and is fast becoming a commercially viable source of electricity.

Renewable

Wind energy source is a free, renewable natural resource for energy production. Wind energy, in the form of airflows, can be used to turn turbines which produce electricity. The airflows are a result of uneven distribution of solar heat on the Earth and its rotational motion, thereby rendring wind energy source virtually inexhaustible.

Plentiful

Wind, or air masses in motion, is caused by temperature and pressure diffenences arising on the surface of the Earth due to non-uniform distribution of solar heat, as well as the motion of the Earth. Wind energy source is, therefore, a permanent source of energy, which can theoretically be put to use anywhere on the Earth.  Although commercially viable extraction of wind energy is not possible everywhere, it is available all across the globe, and the global potential for production of electricity using the wind energy source is calculated to be about five times the total current global consumption of electricity.

Clean

Perhaps the biggest advantage of using wind energy source for producing electricity over other, more conventional resources is that it is a pollution free source of energy. Conversion of wind energy into electrical power does not cause the release of greenhouse gasses and other toxic pollutants in the atmosphere responsible for global warming and climate change, making it one of the cleanest sources of energy. It is environmentally sustainable and its effect of the atmosphere is minimal.

Commercially viable

When first used to produce electric power, wind energy source was one of the most expensive ways of producing electricity, not because of high fuel cost- wind energy source being free and easily available, the operating cost wasn’t very high either- but because of high capital and maintenance cost. The set up required for extraction of energy and conversion into a useful form (electricity) was both expensive and difficult to build and maintain. But with technological advancement, the cost of producing electricity from wind energy source has come down substancially. In fact, the last three decades have seen an almost 80% decrease in cost of producing wind energy. With modern technolody and production techniques, wind energy may well become the cheapest form of energy in the times to come.