Wind power should have bright future

Wind power is not some latest trend in energy because windmills have been around for many centuries, and the only thing that is relatively new is the conversion of wind energy into electricity with the help of wind turbines. Wind turbines have first appeared in Denmark, 120 years ago, but for many years they have been used very rarely, in fact it took more than 80 years before world started to take notice of them, which happened after oil crisis in 1970s, which increased the price of fossil fuels, and forced many governments to look at the potential alternative energy solutions.

Since that period wind turbines have become much more technologically advanced, and in the last couple of years wind power has become the fastest growing renewable energy source on global scale, and the most popular renewable energy source in United States.

Many governments across the globe support the growth of wind power industry by offering different incentives, and thanks to these efforts wind power has become one of the cheapest renewable energy option, with one kilowatt-hour of wind energy costing in average between four and six cents.

Wind turbines transform wind energy into electricity. In most cases we have three blades attached to rotor, and once wind starts the blades, the fans spin a cylindrical, low-speed shaft inside the rotor. In order for blades to start spinning wind needs to blow at adequate speeds (usually above 8 miles per hour). Shaft also contains a gearbox, which increases the rotational speed to about 1,000 to 1,800 revolutions per minute on another shaft, and drives the generator. Several electromagnets surrounding a coiled wire induce a voltage in the shaft, and the voltage then transfers an electrical current out of the turbine and into power lines.

Wind energy is popular renewable energy source because it doesn't contribute to global warming since it doesn't produce carbon or any other greenhouse gas emissions like fossil fuels do. Wind energy cannot be depleted like fossil fuels which will eventually be depleted, and thus wind power can provide energy security in years to come.

However, like any other energy source, wind energy isn't the perfect solution, and also has some drawbacks. There are still some issues that need to be solved, most notably intermittency issue because as you already know wind doesn't blow all the time, and in order to compensate for this science needs to find some cheap energy storage solution that would provide us with enough power in times when wind doesn't blow. Since wind farms are usually build in isolated areas wind power requires plenty transmission lines to connect these isolated areas with large cities, and this is often connected with high costs.

Hopefully, in years to come, wind power technologies will become even more technologically advanced as well as economically viable, and further help cut our dependence on fossil fuels.