Here’s a short video I made explaining the basics of wind energy for young people, or newcomers to the subject. I explain why the wind blows, offer a brief history of man’s attempts to harness wind energy, and discuss our current efforts to use wind to generate large amounts of electricity with relatively little environmental impact.
The Pros and Cons of Wind Power
Tagged with: alternative energy, clean energy, green energy, Renewable Energy, video, Wind Energy, wind power
Posted in Wind Energy
Posted in Wind Energy
Nicely done video, Craig. Whether I’m going through Altamont Pass, passing through Tehachapi, or dropping down from Banning into the Palm Springs/Palm Desert area, I never fail to find the wind farms to be not only beautiful but absolutely fascinating as well. But then, I don’t find large or small PV, CPV or fresnel lens facilities unattractive either…
I’m with you all the way. I actually love this stuff. I’d be more than proud to have one in my back yard.
The wind is a very important source of solar energy. Unfortunately the wind is not very even in its energy delivery. But this is a problem that can be and soon will be solved on a paradigm scale. The huge error in to days wind turbine science is the fact that we have chosen to connect electrical generators to these machines, a grievous error. The solution is to attach air compressors to these units and gather energy whenever the wind blows, capturing energy whenever it is available, then using this compressed air to run generators. And not turbine generators by the way. Energy is lost when the wind blows and there is no energy demand. But when we save it for use when it is needed, its viability increases wind turbine outputs many times over.
Craig,
The volatility of wind power is not an issue at our current very-low penetration.
~3% of the energy produced in America last year was wind power. For now, it’s merely a matter of tamping down the natural gas power plants whenever the wind blows… and tamping down the coal power plants (ramping UP the natural gas power) on nights that show a projection of high winds…
That should be perfectly fine as an operating paradigm until regional loads exceed 15% wind energy. Then you start having problems, some of which can be eased by increasing transmission (increasing the size of the region of interest).
In the end, what is needed is a variable demand that can quickly adjust to balance the load. When WindFuels is fully developed, you’ll see plenty of variable demand with ms response, and there will never be a problem with wind variability again…
But for now, with wind power only generating ~3%, this sounds more like a mild annoyance and an overblown political scare than a real problem.
I agree. The intermittence issue is often used as a a red herring, dissuading people from installing more wind.