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Comparing Alternative Energy Forms

Wind Power Introduction

A somewhat hilarious misconception that some people may have is that the only place that wind power is utilized is in Holland, where windmills have existed for centuries. It is almost as silly that most books about wind power do not recognize that wind power has been arguably the most important energy form man has ever used. When discussing wind power, it is necessary to specify what kind of wind power is meant. As the fuel for transportation, fishers or other people using boats have used the power of the wind. The United States could truthfully say that without the power of the wind, Columbus and other European explorers might not have found the Western world. A more exact presentation of the history of wind power is discussed at another page devoted to showing the changes in utilization of wind power over time.

The power of the wind is everywhere, and is found in most abundance in some areas of the world that are not extremely accessible to humans. As a general rule, as the elevation is increased, the wind speed will also increase. Suppose a person decided to climb to the of a two story building. Standing on top of the building, he can feel the great increase of wind speed compared to being on the ground. Wind power stations are often found in the same place as large radio station antennae. Just as the high elevation helps the radio signals to travel farther, the increase heigh above sea level increases the wind speed and helps the station to produce more power. These tidbits of wind power geography are expanded at the wind power geography page.

Wind Power as an electricity provider is popular in many places across the world. One of the reasons that wind power is implemented across the world is the simplicity of the physical science processes that make the conversion from mechanical energy to electricity. The work of the wind moves the blades of the turbine, and the kinetic energy of the wind is converted to kinetic energy in the blades. By manipulating some basic physics equations, the energy transfered can be found. Wind power physics tackles the science of wind machines.

One characteristic of most alternative energy forms (excluding nuclear power), is the application for use in a home setting. Wind Power is often used on farms and housing in rural areas where there are fewer visual housing restrictions, and uses for wind powered devices. Many ancient civilizations used wind power for grain processing or irrigation, and these routines are still in high demand today. It is interesting to compare an industrial size wind power station and a home implementation of wind power because of the number of similarities. Often the new technologies of industrial strength wind power machines are passed directly onto smaller systems. A page complete with diagrams of wind power systems, both on the industrial level, and the home level are given.

After learning about where the best places are for a wind power station, you can go to some of the different sites for wind power all over the world. This site offers a limited collection of links to english web sites in different countries that utilize wind power.