Wind Energy Update

by Wyatt


Renewable energy sources are trendy – there is agreement on that…
But there is an assumed lack of knowledge. Big wind parks follow studies that imply heavy investments out of the range of most citizens. In addition, most citizens have no clue of what they can do and how. However, interest is growing and the number of private users of renewable energy sources is gaining significance.
Mick Sagrillo and Ian Woofenden developed a simple but complete “Wind Turbine Buyer’s Guide” to harvest this opportunity and provide buyers with some basic knowledge that is not always available in the market or easy to reach. The article discusses small wind system components, wind turbine basics, and understanding the ratings. It also shows photos of the small wind turbines and lists several specifications for each.

Wind is simple air in motion. It is caused by the uneven heating of the earth’s surface by the sun. Since the earth’s surface is made of very different types of land and water, it absorbs the sun’s heat at different rates.
During the day, the air above the land heats up more quickly than the air over water. The warm air over the land expands and rises, and the heavier, cooler air rushes in to take its place, creating winds. At night, the winds are reversed because the air cools more rapidly over land than over water.
In the same way, the large atmospheric winds that circle the earth are created because the land near the earth's equator is heated more by the sun than the land near the North and South Poles.
Today, wind energy is mainly used to generate electricity. Wind is called a renewable energy source because the wind will blow as long as the sun shines.

Wind Energy Update

By Wyatt

Wind energy has been used for centuries by converting it into mechanical energy move boats, in mills for grain transformation, or to pump water. Nowadays, technology allows us to use wind energy more efficiently. Wind mills allow us to produce electricity using a generator coupled to blades.
The first commercial applications date from the 1980’s with turbines of typically 50kW and rotors with diameter of 12 meters. Currently, manufacturers are able to provide turbines with a capacity of 5MW and above, with rotors that can go up to 130 meters.
Here are three types of wind turbines:
• squirrel-cage induction generator with a gear box increasing the number of revolutions from the shaft to the desired number in the generator - only available for less then 1.5 MW because of resonance problems
• double-feed (wound rotor) induction generator with a gear box increasing the number of revolutions from the shaft to the desired number in the generator. Includes a converter that injects a current with variable frequency into the rotor windings of the generator to decouple electrical and mechanical frequencies
• direct drive synchronous generator with a directive drive (possible with variable speed) and generator and grid fully decoupled through power electronics.

Wind Energy

By Wyatt
Wind energy is air in motion. Uneven heating in the Earth’s air causes wind. Capturing this air and converting it into energy with turbines produces wind energy.
In a wind turbine wind makes the blades rotate. As these blades rotate, a generator is powered which creates energy that can be stored for later use.
Wind energy is environmentally safe because it uses natural resources that do not consist of burning fuels or gases to create energy. This energy type is easy to use and doesn’t require care. All that is needed is for someone to set it up then it can work from there.
The placement of a wind turbine is the most important step of all. Wind turbines need to be placed where they can receive large amounts of wind. However to much wind could destroy the blades of the turbine. Wind speeds exceeding 20mph can completely destroy wind turbines.

Wind Energy on the rise

by Vinny

While I was looking around Wikipedia, trying to find more information on alternative energy, I saw a graph showing the growth of Wind energy. It showed that since 1997 the usage of Wind has gone way up. Hopefully this trend will continue to build making us go farther for green.