Wind farms are a great way to capture wind energy as evidenced by the recent increases in wind turbine farm installations. Based on raw output, however, wind turbine systems do not compete well with our modern combustion based energy stations. Combustion fuels have high energy density at low cost and in most cases outperform the cost of installing and maintaining wind power.
This is not as bad as you might intially think. The reality is that the things we have grown to love are provided by a solid industrial base. These industries include manufacturing, timber, metallurgy, mining and even production of equipment used to harvest our food supply. A heavy industrial base needs very reliable power in very large quantities.
Let’s be honest, when we have to produce steel, machine metals, and stamp cars a lot of electricity is required. A large and varied heavy infrastructure like this is hard to power on wind or alternative energy alone. The motive energy and processing is too significant.
This does not mean that wind turbine systems are undesirable, however. They are an age-old, tried and true, and elegantly simple piece of machinery that taps an energy source that is free.
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Wind turbines are great for supplying residential power and for smaller industrial applications.
As an example, a 500 MegaWatt power plant can fit in a relatively small space, less than a 1/4 square mile without much difficulty. As a comparison consider a wind power farm of equal capacity. Estimating 2 MegaWatts per turbine would then require over 250 wind turbines be placed in service. Imagine the area this would require!
Keep in mind, also, that a steady supply of Wind is required which is not always the case.
Clearly, in locations that make sense wind power solutions should be part of our energy portfolio. But we must not abandon the advantages of our modern combustion technologies; their efficiencies and cleanliness are much better than days before, and combustion is the most potent way to meet the high energy demands of our industrial base.
Want to find out more about wind turbines, then visit Jim’s site on how to choose the best wind power for your needs.