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Wind power

发布时间:2018-01-12
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Is The Use Of Wind Power A Viable Option For Energy Hungry Cities?

Introduction

Wind power is the conversion of wind energy into electricity using wind turbines With the world's eyes on renewable energy, wind power has been deemed a very viable option. Wind Energy is part of Business Exchange. Wind energy as a power source is attractive as an alternative to fossil fuels its plentiful, renewable widely distributed and produces no green house gases . Wind power is one such source and this report investigates the possibility of powering cities, either wholly or in combination with other sustainable power sources.

Around the globe wind power is growing fast, with an increase of over 30% in installed capacity last year.

Sustainability And Integrated Energy Production

Sustainability has many definitions it can be best explained in as a method in harvesting or using a resource so that the resource is not depleted or damaged permanently.

The ability to provide for the needs of the world's current population without damaging the ability of future generations to provide for themselves. When a process is sustainable, it can be carried out over and over without any negative environmental hazards or impossibly high costs to anyone involved.

Regardless of the explanation and cultural differences most should agree that sustainability is the idea of harvesting a resource to meet whatever people's needs are without depleting or significantly reducing the resource whilst also not producing any harmful effects upon the local or global environment.

Is sustainability viable and possible in today's world with energy hungry cities and can wind be one of the options to making renewable sustainable energy viable for cities; this is the question explored in the following sections.

Wind Power

Wind power is a form of energy Wind power is the conversion of wind energy into a useful form of energy, such as electricity, using wind turbines.

By the end of 2008, worldwide nameplate capacity of wind-powered generators was 121.2 gig watts In 2008, wind power produced about 1.5% of worldwide electricity usage and is growing rapidly, having doubled in the three years between 2005 and 2008. . The turbines can be used individually to power small remote installations that have low power requirements such as water pumping stations or individual homes. This is ideal to take advantage of an area's available wind, land use and the economics of producing electricity generally requires a centralize production arrangement; all to meet the ever increasing needs of cities and towns power requirements whilst minimizing the environmental impact related to power generation and to some extent the impact of power transmission

Placement Of Turbines

Turbines can be placed on land or offshore over water (lakes, seas, oceans) where land is not openly available.

Requirements

Wind turbines require consistent prevailing winds between 3m/s1 (7 mph2) and 25m/s (56 mph). The optimum wind speed for wind turbines is around 16m/s (36 mph) (Macfarlane Generators, 2006).

Unfortunately, not all parts of the world have these requirements.

Typical large wind turbines have the following requirements Wind Turbine Area and Height Requirements (Macfarlane Generators, 2006)

Minimum foot print (for tower only) 4 - 5 m (12 - 15 ft)

Average tower height 50 - 80 m (150 - 240 ft)

The blades of turbines can extend some 50 or 60m. This means placing wind turbines near tall buildings

requires careful planning

Environmental Effects

Wind Power Unlike All Other Energy Producing Sources Do Have Impact On Environment

1)Increased Lightning Strikes - the towers attract lightning.

2)Noise Pollution - Turbines produce low frequency noise (in the range of 13- 18 Hz at approximately

50db) (American Wind Energy Association, 2006).

3)Television/Radio Interference - This has been largely reduced by using composite materials in construction.

4)Aesthetics & Visual Intrusions - Tall towers are not attractive to many people and can ruin the landscape of an area.

5)Property Value impact - Fears falling property values by residents is also an impact issue. To date no study on this issue has shown these fears to be true.

6)Tourism - It is beneficial for cities to promote their wind farms as a form of green tourism and to educate visitors and locals on the positive aspects of renewable energy.

7)Birds, Bats, Insects and Other Flying Animals - Turbines can kill flying animals. This impact can be minimized by understanding migration patterns and using ultrasonic warning devices.

8)Global Warming & Green House Gases - Wind turbines use zero combustion and thus have zero emissions.

9)Renewable Source of Energy - The wind is a completely renewable source of energy.

Alternatives And Other Renewable Sources

1a) Hydroelectric has zero greenhouse gas emissions, provides good return for investment, and low maintenance. The problem of availability limits use of this resource.

1b) Geothermal has zero greenhouse emissions and has low maintenance. The problems are availability of ‘hot' spots and emission of heat into the environment (rivers).

1c) Tidal power shows significant promise, however, the availability of suitable locations (nearly land locked basins) is problematic. It has zero emissions but has some significant environmental impacts upon local wildlife.

1d) Wave power is very much in its infancy and suffers greatly from an extremely harsh and difficult environment. The capitol costs versus power output place this technology squarely still in the research and development stage.

1e) Solar either in the form of photovoltaic (electrical production) or water heating offers reasonable returns for home owners and can easily be incorporated into the construction of buildings.

Non-Renewable Sources

Coal is inexpensive, abundantly available and already well established. It produces unacceptable levels of greenhouse gas emissions and in some cases acid emissions.

Oil and its byproducts are already a massive infrastructure. It produces a massive amount of greenhouse emissions, pollutants, causes massive global political problems and is fast running out. It is a short term inexpensive option.

Methane or natural gas is similar to oil in many respects. It produces greenhouse gases (although less than oil) and is also running out as a resource. It as well, still remains an affordable option.

Conclusion

Wind power has and continues to mature and leads the pack of alternative and sustainable energy sources. The efficiency, availability and acceptability make it the best practical environmental option.

The small and acceptable impacts of wind power are negated when considering the amount of greenhouse gas production and resulting climate change/warming (Maslin 2004, p.16-17) from more traditional sources of power.

Wind power, however, is not completely stable as a stand alone source of power and is best applied with other forms of renewable power generation as part of an integrated energy production system (e.g. Wind/Solar, Wind/Nuclear, ect). As such wind power is a viable source of power for energy hungry cities where the resources are available to take advantage of it.

The main opposition to wind power is not technological; it is political. However, the future of wind power looks bright as the investment continues to sky rocket, as in the case of Spanish investment (Montes 2005, p. 477).

Wind Power is definitely a viable option for energy hungry cities that have the resources to put wind energy in place.

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