Wind Power

Currently, the United States relies mainly on forms of energy that cause great amounts of pollution like burning coal. This releases a lot of greenhouse gasses into the atmosphere. However, there is a lot of research being done on the clean energy front. What I am going to talk about today is wind energy.

Wind energy is what is called a free energy source. It comes from the Earth, and cannot be used up. Wind turbines are put up that spin much like a fan from the wind that is blown across the propellers. As the turbine is moved by the wind, the energy of that motion is stored and used as power. The beauty of wind is that it exists everywhere in the planet and using it for power does not take it away like burning fossil fuels does. The current turbines do not harness nearly all of the potential energy that could be gained from wind, and research is constantly being done to improve turbines.

The problem with wind is that, although it may blow everywhere, it does not blow strong in enough in many places to be properly harnessed. This means that only high-wind areas make good spots for wind farms. According to the AWEA, with the current turbines, wind could only sufficiently power about 20% of the United States. There is a lot of research that is being done about making offshore wind turbines that will be larger and can harness more wind. Turbines vary in size. The original wind turbines were much smaller and more inefficient than the ones that we have now. Wind turbines can be bought for personal use that are much smaller than the ones found in wind farms.

Basically, wind energy has a huge potential- as do all clean forms of energy. There is still tons of research to be done in the field, and the efficiency of turbines will only continue to increase. Small businesses and even homes can purchase their own turbines to run off of clean power. This is a great thing, and the future of energy is bright. The best thing that America can do right now is continue to fund the research of clean forms of energy, because as gas and coal start to run out, other resources will be needed, and wind has a huge potential.

Jad Mouawad's article, Wind Power Grows 39& for the Year, talks about the fact that although America is suffering from a great recession right now, we are still making advancements in clean energy. As the articles title says, the country's wind power reliance went up 39%, making almost 2% of our energy come from wind! The article says that one of the main reasons that the amount of wind turbines has increased is because of the stimulus package, which grants tax credits to those who put up wind turbines. Going back to the accord I talked about in my last article, Europe has planned to rely on 20% wind power by 2020. America is far behind other countries in the 'race' to having a clean energy driven country, with places like Denmark already running on mostly wind power. The article then goes on to state that a lot of the growth of wind turbines in the United States came from orders made in 2008 when the recession was just getting started. It is expected that our growth in clean energy will slow. The future of a zero-impact planet isn't near coming to fruition, but it isn't all that far away either.

-Morgan