Audrey+Potts+Wind+Power+Reaserch+Notes

= = =Audrey Potts Notes on Wind Power=

My Question:
1. If Wind Power was the only source used, how will this benefit us environmentally and what are the down falls?

Point form notes
__**DEFINITION:**__ · **Wind Turbine:** Machines that generate mechanical or electrical power from wind · Could have 2 or more blades to create power which comes from wind


 * __SIZES OF TURBINES:__**

- Modern wind machines vary in size, smallest are called microturbines, designed for use on recreational vehicles, sailboats, electric-fence chargers, and other lower-power applications - Next in size are the miniturbines, they are suited for vacation cabins or as a backup supply of electricity for homes and businesses - Larger are household-size wind machines, suitable for homes, farms, ranches, small businesses, and telecommunications - The largest wind machines are commercial units, capable of producing 30 to 50 times more energy than large household-size units. They are installed singly in remote areas to power entire towns or on large wind farms to provide power to cities

__**DIFFERENT DESIGNS OF TURBINES:**__

- Although many designs to tap into the wind 's energy have been proposed over the years, most modern wind machines fall into one of two groups: horizontal-axis and vertical-axis
 * Horizontal:** In a horizontal-axis machine, blades spin about a horizontal shaft, most common
 * Vertical:** Vertical-axis machines are designed with blades that attach to a vertical shaft, like the blades of an eggbeater, can receive wind from any direction not as popular as horizantal

__**HISTORY:**__ - The first windmills were used for irrigation in Persia in the 5th century A.D

__**PROS OF WIND POWER:**__ - Safe, clean, and non-polluting, with wind power, we can reduce the release of carbon dioxide by replacing fossil fuel plants with wind power plants - A single, 750 watt turbine engine prevents as much carbon dioxide emissions each year as could be absorbed by 500 acres of forest - Less pollution means less health problems and environment problems - Wind turbines only consume a little of water to clean rotor blades if there is no rainfall to clean them itself - Wind technology has a long life span - Turbine blades last for around 10-20 years or longer - When a turbines blades need to be replaced or there is an issue with a turbine in a wind farm, the whole farm does not need to be shut down and only one will not produce electricity while the others will continue - Takes only 2 and a half years to plan a wind farm, that’s faster then creating a coil-fired plant - The price needs to be low for wind power to evolve into the future yet it relates to the cost of fossil fuel prices (3-6 cents per kilowatt-hour) it is expected to drop over time - wind energy can become a major force for economic development as it is growing fast, can save consumers money, and bring new jobs as construction workers - requires no mining (coal power) no drilling, does not generate radioactive waste - very fast growing energy source

__**CONS OF WIND POWER:**__ · Wind turbines cannot operate at 100% every day, the capacity rate is about 35% each year (number of hours that the turbines is at 100%) · Small wind farms are having trouble developing and getting loans because the banks do not recognize · Turbines must be placed where there is a lot of wind · It is hard to find places to place wind turbines that do not disturb the wildlife around them · Not everyone trusts and accepts wind power · Complaints with TV signals, noise, the look of it - Birds are flying into the turbines and being killed, far fewer than the millions being killed by television, radio and cell phone towers. - unreliable as the wind may be to slow to spin the rotors -

__**WIND POWER IS USED FOR...**__ - Most modern wind machines are used to generate electricity and are referred to as wind generators - Early European windmills pumped water or turned the grindstones of mills used to produce flour from various grains - **Pumping water for farms**: As the blades turning the wind, gears inside the rotor turn, operating a piston pump that draws water up from the underground and the water goes into a storage tank or directly onto dry fields - **Heat from windmills:** powering wind furnaces, the furnace can warm water by driving a paddle or pump to churn water inside a closed, insulated tank, thus converting mechanical energy into heat -There are countless uses for powering electricity with windmills

__**LOCATION:**__ - Wind turbines are usually installed in a group called wind farms or wind power plant -Turbines are usually installed in places where wind blows very consistently and well, (mountains, high planes, coastlines) -

__**FUTURE OF WIND POWER:**__ · Already new wind farms being built · new project in Washington, one of the biggest farms in the world, 300 megawatt , power about 70,000 homes · 700 megawatt farm in Texas · a HUGE project being planned in South Dakota 3,000 megawatts named Rolling Thunder · if the researches belief that the price of wind power will drop my 30-50% comes true, then wind power will be one of the most inexpensive forms of the electric forms of electric generation in this century · the new technologies forming the blades make them catch 35% more wind, making them more effective · longer rotate blades create more energy · average towers are 100-230 feet high

__**FACTS:**__ - estimated around the world there are 2 billion people that don't have electricity - More than 1 million water pumping windmills around the world - A single, 750 watt turbine engine prevents as much carbon dioxide emissions each year as could be absorbed by 500 acres of forest - In the past, medium sized turbines (25-100 feet long blades) were more reliable and economical than large turbines (up to 150 feet long blades), now new advances in technology show that it is more efficient with larger turbines rather than medium sized - Wind is powered by the sun - Wind is the ongoing movement of this air

__**ENERGY**__

- 1980's computing boom - 1990's internet boom -2000's biotech and nanotech boomlet
 * Energy Booms:**

- has been cheap past few decades - favored in Asia - there is a long line of coal plants being build in America but few of these have been completed in the lat 15 years
 * Coal Energy:**

-has been cheap past few decades - price has risen currently -> putting up the cost of electricity
 * Natural gas:**

-1970's has been cheap - no longer cheap currently - oil supply may peak because of the consumption, new reserves are hard o find and supply will run out - there are more kinds of oil that will last for longer but the prices will raise due to this
 * Oil Energy:**

- cost is low compared to others such as natural gas -since America is doubting the coal plants, it leaves more opportunity for solar and wind power - economically great because they are going to drop in the future
 * Wind and solar:**

__**FACTS ABOUT ENERGY**__ - worlds population uses 15 terawatts of power! 1 terawatt = 1,000 gigawatts - in 2050 the power is likely to rise to 30 terawatts

__THE FIVE FIELDS OF GEOGRAPHY__

- **windmills need wind for the production of energy** - wind is typically found near large bodies of water - high plateaus (mountains) ect.. - on ground that can support the weight of the turbines**
 * 1) __Physical__: This field includes the study of land forms, climate, soils, vegetation, etc..
 * - wind is created by the sun heating the Earth surface at different rates and times creating the wind and because of this, solar power is wanted more as you should capture the radiation in the first place rather than waiting for wind to appear (Australia is the world leader in developing this and the technology and equipment is imported)**
 * - Can be built in water at very deep depths up to 200 meters deep** (expensive)
 * - where theres alot of wind

- no pollution affects pollution in a positive way -> reduce greenhouse gas emissions - need to put lights on them as they are so high up so planes do not crash into them - on the water --> lights so boats do not crash into them - don't want the turbines to close to each other 0.5 km to 1 km far apart - change visual landscape --> some people do not like them they are HUGE - residences need to be set back from the turbines - rural: farms can still be built around the turbine because it does not take up much space at the ground**
 * 1) __Urban__: This field includes the study of built-up areas, the layout of cities, land use, and urban problems such as transportation, pollution, and garbage disposal.
 * - make noise so need to be far from urban residences (0.5 km is plenty should not be in that distance)

- can change a setting into something completely different and people could find it annoying -**
 * 1) __Social__: The social field includes the study of people and how they interact with themselves and their environment.
 * - can destroy a natural setting


 * 1) __Environmental__: This field includes the study of our surroundings, and how we as humans utilize and often abuse our environment.

- **produces no pollution - turbines ensure that people are not abusing our environment by using this technology to power their homes as there are no greenhouse gasses produced**
 * - A single, 750 watt turbine engine prevents as much carbon dioxide emissions each year as could be absorbed by 500 acres of forest**
 * - will always be better than using non-renewable resources such as fossil fuels**


 * 1) __Economic__: This field includes activities which extract or create goods and provide services; all of which create jobs and maintain our economy

- **cheapest form of renewable energy and will drop even more over time** **--> maintaining our economy** - **operation, installation, manufacturing, research, on the turbines all open for new job opportunities** - provide
 * - In the past, medium sized turbines (25-100 feet long blades) were more reliable and economical than large turbines (up to 150 feet long blades), now new advances in technology show that it is more efficient with larger turbines rather than medium sized**


 * __The geographic themes are:__**

- all over the world - greatest number of wind turbines are in Germany -
 * Location** – identifies where places are

- High grounds to get best wind - water - high winds - not to put them close to residences or where birds or bats are migrating - typically in rural (country) -
 * Place** – investigates the unique physical and human characteristics of an area

-
 * Human-Environment Interactions** – analyzes how people have altered their environments and studies the impacts of such activity


 * Movement** – examines the transportation and communication systems that link people and places


 * Regions** – attempts to organize knowledge about the land and the people. A region is an area that is defined by certain shared characteristics

__**BIBLIOGRAPHIES:**__

- Chiras, Daniel D. "windmills and wind power." //Grolier Multimedia Encyclopedia//. 2010. Grolier Online. 18 Feb. 2010 

- Betsy Dru Tecco. __The Library of Future Energy__. New York: The Rosen Publishing Group, 2003.

- Carr, G. (2008, June 21). The Power and the Glory. //The Economist//.

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