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What are the advantages and disadvantages of wind energy?

Advantages of Wind Power. It's a clean fuel source. Wind energy doesn't pollute the
air like power plants that rely on combustion of fossil fuels, such as coal or natural
gas. Wind turbines don't produce atmospheric emissions that cause acid rain or
greenhouse gasses.

aDVANTAGES OF WIND POWER:

1. The wind is free and with modern technology it can be captured efficiently.
2. Once the wind turbine is built the energy it produces does not cause green house gases or other pollutants.
3. Although wind turbines can be very tall each takes up only a small plot of land. This means that the land below
be used. This is especially the case in agricultural areas as farming can still continue.
4. Many people find wind farms an interesting feature of the landscape.
5. Remote areas that are not connected to the electricity power grid can use wind turbines to produce their own su
6. Wind turbines have a role to play in both the developed and third world.
7. Wind turbines are available in a range of sizes which means a vast range of people and businesses can use them
households to small towns and villages can make good use of range of wind turbines available today.

DISADVANTAGES OF WIND POWER:

1. The strength of the wind is not constant and it varies from zero to storm force. This means that wind turbines d
produce the same amount of electricity all the time. There will be times when they produce no electricity at all.
2. Many people feel that the countryside should be left untouched, without these large structures being built. The
should left in its natural form for everyone to enjoy.
3. Wind turbines are noisy. Each one can generate the same level of noise as a family car travelling at 70 mph.
4. Many people see large wind turbines as unsightly structures and not pleasant or interesting to look at. They dis
countryside and are generally ugly.
5. When wind turbines are being manufactured some pollution is produced. Therefore wind power does produce
pollution.
6. Large wind farms are needed to provide entire communities with enough electricity. For example, the largest s
turbine available today can only provide enough electricity for 475 homes, when running at full capacity. How m
be needed for a town of 100 000 people?
Wind power
Wind is produced as a result of giant convection currents in the Earth's atmosphere, which are
driven by heat energy from the Sun. This means the kinetic energy in wind is a renewable
energy resource - so long as the Sun exists, wind will too.

Wind turbines

A wind turbine

Wind turbines have huge blades mounted on a tall tower. The blades are connected to a nacelle,
or housing, that contains gears linked to a generator. As the wind blows, it transfers some of its
kinetic energy to the blades, which turn and drive the generator.

Several wind turbines may be grouped together in windy locations to form wind farms.

Advantages and disadvantages


Wind is a renewable energy resource and there are no fuel costs. No harmful polluting gases are
produced. On the other hand, wind farms are noisy and may spoil the view for people living near
them. The amount of electricity generated depends on the strength of the wind - if there is no
wind, there is no electricity.
Materials

What You Need:

Cardstock
Pencil with eraser
Straight pin or thumbtack
Small electric motor (can find at a hobby store)
Alligator clip leads or insulated copper wire
1.5-volt bulb and bulb holder (you can also find these at a hobby or hardware store)
Strong fan (standing or box fan)

What You Do:

Part 1 - Pinwheel

1. Cut a piece of cardstock into a 4' square. (If you're only doing this part of the project, you can make it bigger
if you like.) Look at thepinwheel pattern to do the following steps.
2. Use a ruler to draw diagonal lines from corner to corner. Make a small mark along each line 3/4 of an inch
from the center of the square.
3. Cut along the diagonal lines toward the center until you reach the 3/4-inch mark.
4. Fold the corners marked with circles on the pattern into the center and staple the layers together. (You'll
probably need to use at least two staples, but make sure to leave space between staples in the very center). When all
four 'blades' are folded in, stick a straight pin or thumbtack through all the layers at the center. Push the pin through
the eraser on the pencil to finish the pinwheel.
5. Hold the pinwheel in front of a fan and watch it spin. The currents of air coming from the fan catch the
curved part of the blades, causing them to spin.

Part 2 - Generator

1. Remove the pinwheel from the pencil and punch the shaft of the motor through the center. (Try putting a
couple strips of masking tape on the back of the pinwheel before you punch it through - this will make a tighter fit on
the motor shaft.) If your motor came with a little cap for the end of the shaft, put that on to hold the pinwheel in place.
If you don't have a cap, use a piece of clay or cork.
2. Use the alligator clip leads to connect the motors wires to the light bulb.
3. Now hold the motor/pinwheel close in front of the fan again. Does the bulb light up? Look closely - you
should at least see the filament begin to glow. The brightness of the bulb will depend on how much voltage your
turbine is producing, which can change with the size of the pinwheel and the strength of the fan.
What Happened:

When you attached the motor to the pinwheel and put it in front of the fan, you transformed the motor into
a generator, which converts mechanical force (the spinning of the pinwheel) to electricity. It does this with the help of
a magnet inside the motor. When you connected the wires of the motor to the light bulb, you made a complete
electrical circuit, allowing the electricity to flow from the motor through the bulb and back again.

One way to measure power is in volts. A volt measures the amount of electricity flowing through a circuit. The faster
a generator spins, the more volts it will produce. With our simple wind turbine, a smaller pinwheel will produce more
volts because it can spin faster. To fully power the bulb, your turbine would need to produce 1.5 volts. If the bulb just
glows dimly, it means the turbine is producing less than 1.5 volts.

Real wind turbines have very large blades, so they have gear boxes that increase the rotational speed (how fast the
shaft spins). For example, the main shaft might turn only 22 times per minute, but the gears in the gearbox can use
that power to make a smaller shaft turn up to 1500 times per minute, creating a lot more voltage!

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