Why is wind energy not the primary source used for electric generation?

Answer 1

Answer:

To start with, there are 165,000 wind turbines producing clean, safe, carbon-free electricity world-wide, with hundreds and thousands in most jurisdictions today. Wind energy is on track to have greater generating capacity than nuclear by 2015 or 2016.

At present, wind energy produces 20% of Holland's needs and is becoming a significant contributor in many other jurisdictions world wide, including Ontario and Texas.

Wind is widely used by societies world-wide.

That said, the primary barrier to wider-spread adoption was greater cost per kilowatt hour for wind energy than for other forms of generation such as nuclear, fossil fuel and hydro. The long-standing subsidies and the lack of full-cost-accounting typically made wind appear uneconomic.

With world-wide investment in wind power through various forms of tax credits and guaranteed rate contracts, the wind industry has increased to achieve significant economies of scale which reduced the actual price substantially. Where there is a level playing field either through matching support as with Ontario's Feed-in-Tariff or the USA's current (but threatened) PTC, or where there is no support for any form of generation such as in Brazil, wind is currently very competitive on a pure price basis.

A:One of the reasons wind energy is not used more is that political and other interest groups have lobbied against its use.

Answer 2

Mainly because there are several other options.

Wind energy is comparatively clean energy, but requires a large capital investment to build turbines and transmission lines. It is most effective where there is a regular and energetic airflow, such as seashores and valleys. Even with massive development, wind energy alone could not provide the current energy needs of most areas of the country, or of the world.

Answer 3

Several things. Not all places have the type of winds needed, property right of ways and ownership, money and investors, the belief by some there isn't a need, politics, and energy companies trying to stop progress.

Answer 4

It does use wind power. There are areas where you can see what we call Wind Farms - rows and rows of windmills.

But we don't get much energy from wind. Partly it's because we don't have many available areas with sufficient wind to make it economic. Partly it's because we haven't got round to doing it yet.

Answer 5

Wind energy is intermittent and dependent on weather conditions, making it less reliable as a primary source. Additionally, wind turbines have a higher initial cost compared to fossil fuel power plants. Storage solutions to address the intermittency of wind energy are still developing, limiting its widespread adoption as the primary source of electric generation.