Wind Power, Is It For You?

In the face of pollution and rising electricity prices, green power technologies-renewable, non-polluting sources of power for generating electricity-have become ever more popular. There are several different types of clean renewable energy. Water power, wind power, sun power, tidal power, and geothermal power have all been taped to generate electricity - and that's not even counting alternative fuels like methane, ethanol, and biodiesel fuels.

Depending on where you live, however, not all clean and renewable power sources are available. Hydroelectric dams must be built along river, tidal generators along coastlines, and geothermal heat pumps can generally only be built where high-temperature geothermal energy is available near the surface. wind power in Minnesota and solar power, however, can be built almost anywhere - although some locations are better than others, obviously.

How Do Wind Turbines Create Electricity?

Human civilization has been using windmills to power grain mills and water pumps for over a thousand years. It is not surprising, then, that wind power is used today to generate electricity.

In simple layman's terms, electricity is generated by spinning an iron rod wrapped in copper wire in a magnetic field. This generates a flow of loose electrons, otherwise known as electricity. But how do you get the iron core to spin?

Power companies use coal-fired power plants to boil water into steam that turns a steam turbine, spinning the iron core in the magnetic field. Wind Turbine in MN use the same basic idea to generate electricity, except that they use wind mill in MN to spin the iron core of the generator. By replacing wind with coal-heated steam, wind turbines eliminate all polluting byproducts, such as soot and carbon dioxide. Wind, furthermore, is an infinite resource, while the supply of coal is quickly running out.

Can a Wind Turbine Power My Home?

Unfortunately, there is no one-size-fits-all answer to this question. There are many different factors to consider, and every home is different. How big is your home? How much electricity do you use? How many wind turbines do you have? What part of the world do you live in?

If you have large family is a big house using tons of electricity, and a single tiny wind turbine, then it most certainly will not power your entire home - at best, it will only reduce your power bill. On the other hand, if you have a small family in a modest, energy-efficient home, with one or more powerful, efficient wind turbines, and live in an area that gets strong steady winds, then you can most certainly power your home with wind power.

Are Wind Turbines Right for Me?

The answer to this question depends largely on geography. Strong, constant winds are common in places with flat, featureless terrain, such as prairies, plains, steppes, deserts, coastlines, mountaintops and valleys. Places with lots of obstacle to slow down, disperse, or block the wind, such as hill slopes, forests, swamps, and cities are inefficient places for wind turbines.

When the Wind Stops, Will the Power Go Out?

No. This is a common misconception. The wind turbine is not wired directly into your home's wall outlet. Rather, the wind turbines constantly recharge a battery bank that stores electricity. Your home, in turn, runs off the batteries. Depending on how many batteries are involved and how much electricity you use, your home could run for hours or days until the wind picks up again.