Generating Electricity
Criteria A - Criteria B
Farzad Siganporia
11-C
Today in our modern society, us humans take a variety of things for granted. One particularly, goes unnoticed. One, which we cannot live without, and one which changed our lives forever. ELECTRICITY. Electricity exists in a metropolis city, to aircrafts in the air to every remote corner on our earth. During the 1800s, British scientist Michael Faraday discovered the fundamentals of generating electricity. His method, which is movement of a loop of wire between the poles of a magnet, is still used today. Without electricity, the world would be a different place to live in.
Flow Diagram showing how electricity is produced using fossil fuels
(GCSE Bitsesize) There are
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Electricity is then produced. Usually, several wind towers are built together in windy places to be called wind farms.
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Although this method tackles the problem as we can rely less on fossil fuels, it does have some limitations in the economic factor. Wind turbines are extremely costly to develop and the cost is recovered only decades later. The cost for a commercial scale wind turbine ranges from $1.2 million to $2.6 million, per MW of nameplate capacity installed. Most of the wind turbines today are 2 MW so roughly after installation, a single wind tower could cost around $3.5 million. This is a very large amount and a very high initial cost for a company to invest in. This is one factor why countries usually select fossil fuels. (Carla, eHow)
Another factor is the social factor. Wind farms are extremely noisy and spoil the view of people living near them. Wind farms affect communities a lot and force communities to relocate. This also affects the life and welfare of human beings who live near them. It causes noise pollution as well as it is an eye sore. So therefore it may be a problem for some countries to develop communities in that area and a problem for local people who live nearby. (GCSE Bitesize) However, to every dark cloud has a silver lining. There are also benefits of wind power. In the ethical factor, it is a positive step. Using wind power instead of fossil fuels
Wind is a form of solar energy so when it is used it creates electricity. Electricity is a physical phenomenon associated with fixed or moving electrons and protons. The wind power development was a step forward for the use of electricity on how to generate more electricity using the wind. The accomplishments for electricity is that Senegal used 10MW for a wind farm and they gave a positive report and is now using it since the second half of 2005. (Dodge) Another thing is during the Second World War; small wind generators were used on German U-boats to recharge submarine batteries as a fuel-conserving measure. The good thing about wind power is can produce electricity at night as well as during the day and that it is plentiful, renewable, and it reduces the greenhouse gas emissions. (ERIC) The Wind Power would be cheaper to develop electricity and it is less harm to our daily lives.
Wind energy is clean and renewable. The wind is never going to stop blowing; therefore, there will always be enough to keep the turbines going. While some areas may have more wind than others, there is always wind. Wind turbines do not produce any pollution or waste, making them one of the cleanest energy sources on the planet. However, environmentalists are concerned that with the increase of wind turbines, bird populations with decrease because they are getting hit by the wind turbines and dying. Because of the huge poles in the ground, turbines can cause erosion and disrupt wildlife habitats. Wind turbines are also huge; at 30 meters (100 feet) above the ground, with large spinning blades, they can be a bit of an eyesore. They are also loud and have a deep buffeting sound. But the idea is that the large wind farms will be located in the middle of nowhere so they don’t cause an issue in suburban areas. Small wind turbines may be located in backyards to feed houses directly, but these would be so small that they wouldn’t bother any
In a growing world, electricity production is becoming a problem due to coal fired electrical plants releasing millions of gallons of greenhouse gases, ecological problems with pollution in water, and health risks concerning workers and people living nearby. But with new technology and advances in renewable energy sources, wind energy is becoming one of the most popular energy sources for many states.
According to research done by Discovery News, in January 25, 2013, the top 10 countries, by order of most demand and use of wind energy, are: China, United States, Germany, Spain, India, Italy, France, Canada, Brazil, and Denmark. All of these countries are investing money in wind turbine projects because, in the long run, it is going to benefit them from both the economic and ecofriendly point of view (Discovery News). In addition to these top ten countries in the world, there are more countries that have, or are, investing in these types of projects, since this is the future and correct path for the use Renewable Energy as a replacement for fossil fuels. Fossil fuels are harming the environment to the point where in a short amount of time it is going to be almost impossible to live on Earth because of the catastrophic changes the pollution will cause. (Environmental and Energy Study Institute). The controversies caused in
3. Some people think wind power is good , as it’s clean energy. But some people think it can cause health problems.
Unlike its sister energy supply, fossil fuels, wind power is a clean resource. Wind turbines don’t pollute the air like power plants, which rely on the burning of coal or natural gas. They’re free from producing atmospheric emissions that cause acid rain or greenhouse gases.
When the wind is blowing on wind turbines it produces electric power, Fans are old techniques used in the mills and then the water pump, but now it has developed the technology and has become used for electric power production.
Another benefit to wind energy is the environmental offset it has on more local environments that traditional energy sources are destroying. Oil, gas, and coal power plants destroy local environments by polluting the water and soil and wasting tons of water. Wind energy will mitigate this problem because Wind power does not require any water and only requires a very small land footprint. This will not only save us from environmental harms from the water and soil it will also help prevent droughts and increase the water available to us. This is particularly critical when we have places like California that are running bone dry currently. Thermoelectric power plants (majority of coal, nuclear,
Many believe that wind power is the best solution to this world’s problem—it helps fuel infrastructures without causing air pollution and reduces greenhouse gas emission (Burnett 247). However, H. Sterling Burnett, author of the article "Wind Power Puffery", suggests differently when he states, "No, the truth is wind power's environmental benefits are usually overstated, while its significant environmental harms are often ignored"(247). Burnett implies there are problems that come attached to wind power; the main one being wind towers only generate power within a certain range of wind speed. He adds that wind towers being shut off due to wind speeds results in fossil fuel powered stations
One other environmental factor regarding wind turbines, especially the wind farms, is that “erecting and maintaining wind turbines can also necessitate clearing land: ridgeline installations often require a fair amount of deforestation, and then there's the associated clearing for access roads, maintenance facilities, and the like”. (7) Although we are trying to help the environment by creating a safer and cleaner source of energy, the actions of clearing our forests, and whatever ecosystem that lived in that forest, in order to save the environment appears to be an oxymoron. “But there are also now a great many turbines situated on farmland, where the fields around their bases are still actively farmed”. (8)
In 1831, scientist Michael Farday discovered the first form of electricity. He found that when a magnet moved inside a copper coil it created what is known as an electric current. This invention is known as a turbine generator. Even today, in full sized power stations this simple invention is still used and works very effectively. These power stations create mass amounts of energy to turn the turbines. Most of the time the energy is made from the heat, for example when coal is burned. More environmentally friendly power stations use wind or flowing water to turn these turbines. This is known as renewable energy because it will not run out, unlike when oil and coal are used.(3)
We are facing an energy crisis on Earth. Burning fossil fuels are harming the atmosphere; this global warming and affects produces chemicals that hurt our body. People are starting to think about using alternative energy. Wind power would be our first choice, because it’s clean, inexhaustible and renewable. Today, wind power is mainly used in Europe. We believed wind power would be the main source of alternative energy for world use.
Wind Energy is a viable industry that has become a valuable energy source. The energy generated from wind is clean and efficient. The wind energy industry helps to ensure that electric demands are met, wildlife impact is minimal, the environment is not devastated, as well as creates new jobs during the construction of wind farms, daily operations, manufacturing components, and exporting components to foreign countries.
On the environmental aspect, wind energy does not contribute to pollution as almost no waste materials that contribute to pollution are produced by the usage of wind power (Wright, 2005). For example, in the States, wind plants compensate the emission of than 2.5 billion pounds of carbon dioxide and 15 million pounds of other
sources produce, namely pollution, through the formation of CO2, heat, and other waste materials. Once factors such as health problems, global warming, destruction of wilderness and such come into play, wind energy becomes a very