Wind powered energy has been increasingly used in European countries for years and is now increasingly being used in Canada and the United States lately as well. Harnessing free energy produced from the wind to produce electric and thermal energy is a great way of making use of our earth’s natural resources. And I am sure that we are all aware or perhaps heard that Green energy produced by wind is great for the Environment, however like most things in life, there are always advantages and disadvantages involved.
Today I have decided to explore some of the advantages and disadvantages involved with wind energy. Here is a list of some of the advantages and disadvantages of wind energy.
Advantages of Wind Energy
- Wind energy makes use of kinetic energy to produce mechanical energy from turbines. This type of energy is no new discovery because it been used for centuries, even the Romans harnessed wind energy to create mechanisms that could grind grain and pump water.
- Unlike fossil fuels, wind power is a renewable source of energy, so it will never get depleted.
- Winds are cheap and actually free, and with the use of modern equipment, can be used effectively to generate electricity.
- Huge amounts of land are not needed to install a fully functional wind turbine. Even a small bit of land or space is sufficient enough for residential wind mills. And small sized wind mills can even be installed on high rise buildings.
- Combining wind energy with solar energy can help provide a reliable and steady source of electricity.
- The only expense involved with wind power is the actual buying and installing of the equipment (plus general maintenance). An expense that can easily be retrieved back over time.
- Unlike oil that is available in abundance only in a certain places on our Earth, wind can be found all most anywhere. And electricity is cheaper to transport across power lines then fossil fuels are to transport.
- Using wind energy will help reduce carbon footprints because the turbines do not produce enormous amounts of carbon dioxide compared to the burning of energy sources and fossil fuel when they are used to produce electricity.
- With the backing of wind energy and wind turbines you do not have to rely on being part of the electricity power grid. You can live anywhere and still get power
Disadvantages of Wind Energy
- The main disadvantage of wind energy is that wind itself is not always constant every where. The force of wind varies from times of no wind to times with heavy winds like storms, this problem can often result with an inconsistent amount of electricity produced. And there will even be times when there will be no electricity produced. This is one of the reasons why commercial wind turbines take careful planning when deciding how large to make them and where to place them, allowing to maximize the potential wind source of a region.
- Setting up wind turbines in scenic country sides does not always receive good response from many because people feel that the natural beauty of the countryside should be left alone without any kind of structure spoiling it, and often wind turbines can be large structures.
- Most wind turbines are noisy and there is no escaping from it for people that live close by. The sound can often be compared to the sound generated like a car driving at speeds of 100 km/hr.
So as you can see , although using wind energy has a lot of advantages and can be a great cost saving method, there are also some disadvantages associated with it. And most of us are well aware of the advantages, however if one is planning on harnessing the wind to produce energy for a residential property, then they must also be fully aware of some of the drawbacks.
However, knowing more about them along with careful planning can allow somebody to make the right decision in choosing the right renewable resource and why residential wind energy presents a realistic opportunity to reduce our energy bills, while at the same time being kinder to the environment.
There are many residential sized wind mills available to purchase on the market in most hardware stores as well as many other sources available that provide you the instructions to build your own. I am further exploring some of the many kits and plans available and plan to cover them here on my site, so if you are interested in residential power then I would love to hear from you or have you come back again to the blog.
