Advantages of wind power:

• Wind power is very low cost (after the initial production and installation)
• Wind power is clean (no pollution or carbon dioxide after the initial setup, apart from the comparatively minor emissions produced to manufacture, transport, erect and maintain them)
• Wind is a renewable and sustainable resource. We can use as much as we can today and there will still be more tomorrow.
• Wind power will become cheaper than fossil fuel in the next few years (when the price of carbon is added to coal and oil), and in many places already is.
• Wind turbines are self sufficient, just place them and watch 'em spin! (low maintenance, few moving parts, easy to repair)
• Many people view wind turbines as aesthetically beautiful additions to the landscape.
• Wind prices won't inflate like today's gas prices.
• The land beneath can still be used for farming or any other purpose it was used for prior to a wind turbine being erected.
• (For the US) At the moment we get our fuel (fossil fuels, mainly oil) from other countries. What would happen if one day they decided to cut off our power? Wind energy reduces US dependence on unstable, oil-producing countries.

Wind energy is provided ultimately by the sun and the rotation of the earth. The sun's radiation creates pressure differences in the atmosphere, and the rotation of the earth creates Coriolis forces. Together, these produce winds. Because wind energy comes from the sun and the earth's rotation, it is "FREE" in another aspect: it is completely non-polluting.

Wind power, delivered to where people need it, is not free of all cost however. This is because we must build expensive windmills to turn the wind energy into electricity, and transmission lines to get the power where we need it. Also, the environment in the immediate vicinity of windmills will suffer in various ways, and with the suffering is associated an additional cost. Arguably, however, the environmental costs are usually much greater for other modes of power production, such as coal fired thermal power stations. Wind power does not require the burning of fossil fuels (beyond initial manufacturing and installation) to create electricity.

Animals:

Wind can greatly affect wildlife, especially turkey, deer, squirrels and rabbits living or being in the woods. the animals will "hold up" as us hunters call it because the animals can not hear incoming prey because of the wind.

Plants:

Wind will not drastically affect plants because the seeds will grow almost anywhere and they get their food/nutrients from the ground.

WIND ENERGY AND THE ENVIRONMENT

Wind energy is an excellent sustainable energy source, but no energy production is completely without impact on the environment. After all, even the slightest change in our surroundings has some effect, sometimes positive, sometimes negative. However, energy from the wind has very little impact on the environment for the following reasons:

WIND IS CLEANER

Many kinds of energy production produce harmful substances. For example, burning coal for energy yields sulfur dioxide, which causes acid rain. Wind energy helps offset traditional electricity generation's negative effects on the environment. Wind farms do not release any pollutants such as carbon dioxide (a greenhouse gas that contributes to climate change), sulfur dioxide (which causes acid rain) and nitrogen dioxide (which causes smog). By supplying power from a clean, renewable resource, wind energy helps reduce pollution, keeping our environment healthy for future generations.

WIND IS SAFE

Wind farms have many advantages for both people and animals. Wind farms are safe for animals on the ground, and since wind farms take up a very small percentage of land on which they are sited, most of the land can remain in use for crops or grazing. There are regions in the world in which wind farms can have an adverse impact on birds. However, many studies have been done in the United States and Europe on birds and wind turbines. Most of these studies have shown that birds tend to change their flight path in order to fly safely past the wind turbines. Nevertheless, at Horizon Wind Energy we always take into account bird migratory routes or flywayswhen siting our wind farms to prevent avian difficulties. We also take into account nesting grounds and other bird-related issues.

To read our Corporate Environmental Policy, click here.

For more information about wind energy and the environment, visit the American Wind Energy Association website.

• Keeping us cool
• Helping us breathe
• Drying our clothes
• Powering yachts and sailing ships
• Grinding corn for flour
• Pumping water
• Producing energy through electricity turbines

• Wind can be used for generating electricity using windmills. It is a form of solar energy, because the sun heats the air unevenly around the earth.
• the purpose of wind is for us humans, animals and plants to survive without wind we all will die .
• blows.
• Use it to run wind-powered objects, or to create electricity. For instance, windmills.
• If there was no wind then there would not be any tornadoes, hurricanes, etc. If there was not any wind then there would not be a jet stream and flights would be longer.
• They move air from one place to another.
• Wind doesn't necessarily have a use... it blows. and causes disaster.
• Wind can become energy or what's called electricity, and wind energy doesn't pollute the Earth, and some scientists say it's very safe, cheap and clean.
• lots of things
• entertainment, electricity, travel
• we use big turbines to make the wind into electricity
• we use sails on boats to use it for travelling
• we fly kites for entertainment
• and much more =]
• You can use wind by cooling objects
• winds help electricity to run appliances or other uses
• wind is usually used rural

Regards,

Be-Cool Expert

Ceiling fans are definitely not a waste of energy.

Ceiling fans use very little electricity. Use them to circulate air in the house, to make the house feel cooler. By doing this, the thermostat setting for your air conditioner can be raised to 85°F, and still maintain the same comfort as the lower setting.

[From The Home Energy Saver a webpage from the Berkeley Lab website.]

If you only use ceiling fans in the rooms that you are in, then it will save a bundle. Just remember to turn the fans off when you leave a room. You can also buy motion sensors that will turn lights or fans on automatically.

Wind energy (Kinetic) is transformed into electrical energy (Potential) with the use of a turbine-generator. The wind turns the blades of a wind turbine. These blades then turn a generator, something which uses magnets (specifically magnetic flux) to create electrical energy. As electrical energy is a form of Potential energy, the energy has been converted from Kinetic energy (the turning of the blades) into Potential energy (also known as "voltage") by the generator.

More details

A generator is a coil of wire surrounded by magnets. When the coil spins or the magnets spin, electricity is created. You need something to cause it to spin. In your car the gas engine does. At a hydro-electric dam, falling water that drives the turbines' blades. At a coal-fired power plant, expanding steam drives the turbines which in turn drive the generators. And in a wind generator, the wind turning the propeller blades drive the generator.

A wind generator makes electricity just like any generator: the fan blades drive a turbine which turns the generator. The amount of power (wattage) produced depends on several things including the speed of the wind, the size of the propeller blades and the size of the generator.

It is the same process, just a different power source.

A wind turbine - as any turbine, is an energy converter. It converts wind energy into mechanical energy and then electrical energy. Some so-called direct-drive turbines use magnets to keep it running even when there's no wind. Now direct-drive turbines are used. The number of blades do not matter (too many blades = too much turbulence), The span of the blades make more power. That's the smarter way to make more power. In 1985 blades had a span of 30 ft. Now they get to over 200 ft.

In America, the first recorded weather vane maker, Shem Drowne of Boston, began hammering out silhouettes in the early 1700s. Soon, weather vanes were popping up all over the Colonies.
shem drwne invented the first wind vane (recorded in the us)
Wind vanes have been known for milennia, who first though of the idea is not known.

From Wikipedia:

The Tower of the Winds on the ancient Roman agora in Athens once bore on its roof a wind vane in the form of a bronze Triton holding a rod in his outstretched hand, rotating as the wind changed direction. Below, the frieze was adorned with the eight wind deities. The eight metre high structure also featured sundials, and a water clock inside dates from around 50 BC. The wind vane evolved from a Triton to a weathercock as the Roman Empire converted to Christianity. Many churches have a weathercock on the tower or spire. The cock refers to the fall of St Peter and to intimate the necessity for watchfulness and humility.