Dan Chiras: Wind Power Basics A Green Energy Guide

In today’s world, the green movement is taking over, bringing a lot of people with it who want to join in. In the recent years, the governments, organizations and individuals have shown us the damage we are doing to the environment with our lifestyles, they also told us how we can help. Driving more fuel efficient cars, recycle everything that can be recycled, disposing of waste properly, and using products that will not have an adverse affect ton the environment. There are also ways to make your home a very eco-friendly home by powering off of something other than the big power companies. This is where the wind energy movement would come into play.

Wind energy is energy that is harnessed simply by the wind blowing. If it is harnessed correctly, the wind can be converted into a type of mechanical force or into electricity to power things in your home. The best part about using wind energy to create electricity for you is that you do not have to pay for the wind to blow; you do however have to pay for electricity from a local power company. So if you decide that you want to try your luck at harnessing wind energy, the question will come to mind, “How do I generate wind energy?”

The answer to that question is simple, you do not generate wind energy, the sun does. The sun will sometimes heat the earth at different rates. This creates a reduction in the atmospheric pressure, when there is a reduced atmospheric pressure, the hot air will rise and cooler air will become its substitute which creates wind. So now that the question at hand has been answered, the new question is, “How can I harness the wind and convert it into energy?”

That answer is also a rather simple one. Traditionally, there were machines known all around as windmills that were used to do something mechanical such as mill wheat into grain. The wind spun the windmill and that spun gears which performed a certain job. The same concept applies to converting wind energy except that the windmill took on a slightly more modern name; the wind turbine. Modern wind turbines have two main styles, one is the horizontal axis wind turbine, and the other is a vertical axis wind turbine. A horizontal axis wind turbine takes on a more traditional look by using a propeller while the vertical axis wind turbine is shaped similar to an egg beater. The horizontal axis turbine is the most popular type of turbine.

When the wind blows, it spins the blades on the wind turbine which in turn creates energy which will then be converted into electricity. Most wind turbines include a rotor, and enclosure that houses the drive train, gearbox and generator, a tower big enough to support the rotor blades and enclosure, and various types of electronic equipment that is vital in converting the energy. The blades are usually made of polyester that is reinforced with fiberglass.

The amount of energy that is produced from your wind turbine is based on two factors; the first factor is how big your wind turbine is, the second factor is how often the wind blows, because you obviously need wind to power the wind turbine. Around 10,000 KWh of electricity is used by the average household each year, so you would probably want to at least get a wind turbine that is big enough to create 10,000 KWh. If you build a wind turbine that is larger and ends up creating entirely more electricity than what is needed, then you can feed the excess electricity back into the utility system and they will pay you for your contributions