Advantages and Disadvantages of Wind Energy UNCOVERED

Wind energy is clean energy that does not pollute the environment during or after the use and is available free of cost anytime it is needed (provided it is there when required) and so seems to be the ideal form of energy. However, not unlike the other side of the coin, it has quite a few disadvantages that need consideration before attempting to install a system. But let us list the plus points first before citing the negative ones.

Fuelled by free wind, this from of clean renewable energy neither produces nor leaves any contaminant when in operation as compared to fossil fuel generated power plants that belch tons of harmful gases enhancing greenhouse effect. Besides, the wind machines or wind turbines go on generating current as long as the wind is there. Moreover, modern, computer oriented blades can adjust the slant to suit wind direction whenever it changes, thus assuring uninterrupted power supply all along.

Wind energy offers so many advantages that a fabulously large wind farm has been created inTexas for producing electricity. Known as the Horse Hollow Wind Energy Center, it generates enough electricity through 421 wind turbines to electrify more than 220,000 homes in and around the area. Also, the world’s first off-shore Wind Park is scheduled to come up in the neighborhood off the coast of Cape Cod, Massachusetts for testing wind turbines and wind machines that have been found to be of advantage to people.

As a domestic form of energy, wind or airstreams, whatever it may be called, is abundantly available in many parts of the United States and so the nation does not depend on other countries or regions to obtain it from. This however, is not the same as with the oil for which it has to largely depend on middle-eastern countries as well as pay hefty sums of money that has resulted in the present oil crisis.

Winds are caused not due to any mechanical or other means but by the sun’s heating effect on our planet and its continuous rotation on its axis and so the wind energy is a natural, renewable form of energy that anyone can use to his or her benefit, without paying any tax or toll to anyone but to God. Therefore, this God-sent free form of energy can be utilized by anyone living on the US soil or anywhere else for that matter.

Looking at it from a practical point of view, wind energy, apart from Solar Energy, is probably the cheapest form of renewable energy technology ever made available on earth. If appropriately harnessed, taking into consideration the project financing and the site selection, the cost of electricity can be as low as 4 to 6 cents per kilowatt-hour.

Wind turbines run through wind energy are best suited to isolated ranches or farms where gusts of wind are available abundantly while low-cost electricity is always in demand. Installation of wind turbines at appropriate height in such areas will suit both purposes perfectly and well. Since a wind turbine tower occupies marginal soil space, it never hampers farmers and ranchers to go on utilizing the land while the turbines do their duty by supplying power to them. Alternatively, Individual Power Suppliers can install their turbines on the farmer or the rancher’s land, paying them rent for the use of few square feet of land used for erecting the towers. 

Despite a host of advantages that the wind energy offers, it has to be cost competitive when compared to conventional fossil fuel power generators. Though the cost of wind turbines have appreciably been reduced recently, the initial cost for installing a battery of turbines still cost rather high in terms of installing conventional generators.

The biggest problem about wind powered generators lies in selecting their sites. In fact, it somehow resembles real estate locations. The more the wind velocity, higher is the land price. And to create a sizable power field that can run at profit, one needs sizable land at appropriate sites where a large number of turbines can be installed. Then there are the risks of sudden cessation of wind velocity due to catastrophes or natural calamities like the Tsunami that had all but altered the weather of the area.

Ironically enough, good wind sites are usually located in remote areas, far from cities or towns where electricity is needed most. Erection of electric poles or laying of cables for carrying electricity from the source to the destination often proves much too expensive both in initiating the work and maintaining the same.

And lastly, environmentalists are of the opinion that the noise or hum produced by wind turbines disturbs the ecology of nature where people often go to savor the beauty of the environment. And most of them vehemently protest against installation of such machinery in natural surroundings that are ‘eyesores’ to them.