Wind Power

300m to 500m

To power up just North America it would need 40,000,000 wind turbines.

Not sure how many power up the world

The above answer seems to be off by about a factor of 10. The answer that follows is based on information from various sources, including the U.S. Energy Information Administration, the energy resources council of Texas, and the U.S.

renewable energy lab in Colorado.

Peak monthly electricity generation in U.S. - 410,000,000 Megawatt hours

Hours in month for that month (July): 31 * 24 = 744

Typical nameplate power output of wind turbine: 1.7 Megawatts

Capacity factor for wind turbines during that month: 9%

410,000,000 / 744 / (1.7 * (9/100)) = 3,602,000

So it would take roughly 3.6 million wind turbines, at minimum, to power the United States. Although the yearly average capacity factor for wind turbines is roughly 30%, during the summer months, the time of peak electric usage, it is much lower. This results in many more wind turbines being necessary to power the U.S. Wind power has limiting factors that would prevent it from being a single source of power. Wind is too variable and our power needs far too static to allow us to use this form of energy for more then supplemental power. Foe every wind turbine in use, a secondary source of energy needs to be on line to cover the variations of load.

in the 17th century

Huge!!!!!!!!

Hydroelectricity pollutes all the water it uses.

Water, Oxygen, Wind, Sun...

"He runs like the wind" is an example of a metaphor.

The amount of wind turbines in a wind farm can vary from one farm to another. They can have as few as five or as many as 150 wind turbines. One of the largest wind farms is Alta Wind Energy center in Kern County, California. It has over 4,800 wind turbines.

1. No, because they use renewable resources such as wind, they create no pollutants.
2. However all structures have an environmental impact.
3. The construction of an turbine tower also requires mineral resources and also the tower disturbs the ecosystem by it's base.
4. It is better and correct to say that wind turbines are better for the environment than their alternatives, namely, nuclear power, AND fossil fuels.

In 2009 the costs to install a wind farm in the US were approximately $2,000/kW of nameplate capacity or $2,000,000/MW. Turbine prices in 2010 are dropping. Construction costs are also dropping. The result, based on precedent transactions, is an all-in installed cost of $1500/kw nameplate or $1.5m/mw.

Wind farm sizes vary. The majority of wind farms installed in the last 10 years in the US range from 50mw to 150mw, implying an all-in installed cost of $75m to $225m per wind farm.

It is expected to be easily accessible to the general public in 2015

One and best example of wind energy is WIND FARMS that uses wind turbines or old age windmills.

i dont know sorry.

The United States has a corner on that claim.

The advantages to solar power are an inexhaustible supply of the sunlight. The disadvantages include the cost and efficiency of solar cells. Nuclear power produces tremendous energy with little amounts of fuel. The downsides are storing radioactive wastes and risk of proliferating fissile materials. Wind power can produce significant energy, but it can harm landscape aesthetics in addition to endangering land and marine life. Hydroelectric generation produces the most efficient energy and minimal mechanical losses. However, the construction of dams alters hydrology, flood patterns, and can destroy ecosystems.

Currently (2010) around 2.4%

This number is increasing yearly because of new installations of wind turbines. These are often constructed in areas with low population density and with high average wind speeds.

In 2009 about 1.8 percent of the electricity generated in the United States was generated by wind power. This amount has been increasing by a fraction of a percent each year for the last several years. Texas generates the most power by wind of any state, over 14 billion kilowatt-hours in 2009. Iowa generates the most power by wind as a percentage of all the electricity generated in the state, 14.2% in 2009.

There is a good introductory article on wind power in Home Power magazine issue 127 (October/November 2008) titled "Wind Power Curves".

The quick summary is that the theoretical limit for energy capture (the Betz limit) is 59.6% of the energy in the wind.

The wind energy available depends on the wind speed. If the average wind speed is known, the available energy can be calculated assuming some standard distribution (normally Rayleigh distribution) of wind speeds.

Some sample figures (based on Rayleigh wind distribution and 35% turbine efficiency):

5mph average -> 0.25 kWh/month/sq.ft

10mph average -> 2.08 kWh/month/sq.ft

The power figure is per square foot of swept area (the area covered by the turbine blades when rotating), so if you have 100 sq. feet swept area then 10mph average wind speed could generate 208kWh/month.

Centimeters are not the right units to use for volume.

Although, if it is centimeters cubed(cm^3) then it would be:

33.3g / 6.02cm^3 = 5.53156 g/cm^3

Let's do some simple math: If a compressor motor takes 3amps to make 100psi at any given time interval (we'll use 5min) it breaks down to about 360-400watts for that 5minutes. No we get a dynamo and backfeed the air through it. The 90 psi will immediately start to drop off, and even if it didn't and you had it connected through. The best you could do (which is impossible) is break even. You'll not save any effort, or money. So although your answer is "yes" I'd have to follow it it with a "not for long."

There are a lot of variables including but not limited to size of wind farm, location, distance to national grid, type of ground (e.g. moorland, agricultural, brownfield etc)


An approximation for equipment is 1.7 million pounds per megawatt (modern turbines are usually 2 or more megawatts)


A lot of costs will be incurred in the early stages with planning, feasability studies, environmental scoping and studies, PR campaigns, consultation etc. This can easily run into 6 figures


Connection back to the national grid can be in the millions if a particularly remote location, at least hundereds of thousands if not.


Payback depends on location, here in the UK you should be aiming for 3-5 years to break even


Hope this helps

Yes, wind power is environmentally friendly.

No. A producer is a living thing, usually a plant, that makes its own nutrients. Wind is not a living thing.

1.5 kw

The amount of wind turbines that are in a wind farm simply depends upon how big the wind farm is. Wind farms can be of all sizes, and some are located in open areas, while others are in water.