WIND TURBINE TECHNOLOGY

Background

 Most of the things that are widely taken for granted are those that on a daily bases we tend not to give a second thought about, things that we cannot see an immediate effect on so we let the present drown out what the future may hold.  One such thing easily taken for granted being energy or an adequate or abundant amount of such power.  In the development of energy there are several major calculations to take into considerations during the planning process.  Those considerations carefully calculated are resource depletion, supply production peak, security of supply, cost, impact on air pollution as well as water pollution, and lastly whether or not the source is renewable.  Once all considerations are accounted for next the production of primary energy source are developed and thus distributed to people who cannot afford to live under unfavorable climate conditions.

Competition

·         Petroleum:   also known as Crude Oil is a natural occurring, flammable liquid found in rock formations in the earth.  Because petroleum has a lot of energy it can be turned into several different fuels such as gasoline, kerosene and heating oil.  Petroleum takes millions of years to make thus making it a nonrenewable source that we acquire by drilling oil wells.  Oil is our countries main source of energy its usage ranges from powering our cars, trucks, airplanes, to the use of oil in factories to make elements like plastic, medicine, soap.  Oil is even used to make electricity.  With all the good in the use of petroleum its damages’ weight is as equal, the pollution caused by the burning of the fuels is harmful to the environment and during the drilling process the spilled oil pollutes the soil and water affecting the environment and the animals living in it.                                                                   

·         Natural Gas:  is a gas consisting primarily of methane found in fossil fuel.   Natural gas can be hard to find since it is usually tapped in porous rocks deep underground thus making it a nonrenewable source.  Third on the countries list of energy consumption natural gas can be primarily found in the industrial industry using it mainly as a heat source to manufacture goods.  Natural gas is also used as an ingredient in numerous goods such as fertilizer, photographic film, ink, glue just to name a few.  The residential and commercial sector is the second biggest users of natural gas with their primary consumption being for heating.  Natural gas is the third largest producer of electricity next to coal and uranium.  Although it’s the most environmentally friendly of all the fossil fuels nonetheless the burning of natural gas is still a pollutant that affects the environment and the animals that live in it.   

·         Electricity:  is the flow of electrical power or charge.  Electricity is a secondary energy source which means that we get it from the conversion of other primary energy sources such as coal, natural gas, crude oil, nuclear power and other sources.  Electricity is considered neither renewable nor nonrenewable since it is made from other primary energy sources.   Measured in watts the invention of the device called a transformer which allows electricity to be transmitted over long distances.  The transmission of high voltage electricity is more efficient it is then sent to the transformer where the voltages is converted to a lower voltage thus being passed to power homes, factories and businesses alike.

·         Nuclear Power:  is the combination of extracted energy from atomic nuclei from controlled nuclear reactions.  The method used in today’s society is nuclear fission which is a nuclear reaction where the nucleus of an atom splits into smaller parts.  Fission of heavy elements is an exothermic reaction which can release large amounts of energy thus producing the energy for nuclear power.  The energy source for nuclear power is uranium which is a scarce source making nuclear power a nonrenewable source.   The advantages in the use of nuclear power plants is that nuclear power generation emits relatively low amounts of carbon dioxide and the emission of green house gases making nuclear power’s contribution to global warming relatively little.  Since the technology is readily available nuclear power does not have to be developed first.  Nuclear power has high enough energy that you would be able to generate high amounts of electrical energy in a single plant.  Even with these advantages nuclear power is neither green nor sustainable not to mention its disadvantages can be catastrophic.  

·         Coal:  is a fossil fuel formed in ecosystems from the remains of plants that lived and died 100 to 400 million years ago and were preserved by water and mud through oxidation and biodegradation.   Coal is classified as a nonrenewable source because it takes millions of years to form.  We abstract coal through coal mining using one of two methods, surface mining or underground mining.  Its main use in this country is to generate electricity in which it produces about half of the electricity in the United States.  Another major use of coal is in iron and still making.  Formally the major energy source for heating homes, factories and businesses  but due to its noticeable effects caused by pollutions the use of coal has been lessen.   

·         Solar Power:  is simply the radiation from the sun converted into other forms of energy such as thermal “heat” and electricity.  This form of energy has been used for billions of years making it a renewable source of energy.   The solar power plants indirectly generate electricity when the heat from thermal solar collectors is used to heat a fluid that produces steam which powers a generator.  The converted energy is then used in homes, buildings, swimming pools as well as heating greenhouses.  The use of solar energy is free with an unlimited supply.  The use of solar energy has no air or water pollution.  What seems to be its only downfall is the manufacturing of the photovoltaic cells (that convert sunlight into electricity) consumes silicon and produces some waste products.    

Insight

 Renewable energy from the sun, wind and sea has long been credited as the ultimate solution to the world’s energy and environmental problems, offering the potential of virtually unlimited cheap and pollution-free energy.   Since its highly apprehensive appraisal in the 1970’s renewable energy’s overall fortunes since have declined however the development of one particular renewable energy technology, the wind turbine continued to make steady progress.  The process of wind turbine begins like such; there is a rotating machine that converts the kinetic energy in wind into mechanical energy.  Next either a machine called the windmill uses that mechanical energy directly or that mechanical energy is converted into electricity by another machine called the wind turbine.  That energy is then distributed to homes, factories and business for general usage.  Although both highly “green” and sustainable wind turbine energy has to go through several calculations to determine the potential of the wind energy resource in that certain location.  Of those calculations one being the wind resource assessment in which calculates the average wind speed over a 10 to 20 year period.    

Market

 Over the past three years the global wind turbine market has seen explosive growth in terms of competitors, capacity investments and project orders as the industry races to keep up with the booming global demands.  Scaling exponentially in nearly all dimensions including size of turbines , projects and buyers the industry is creating enormous opportunities for everyone involved, as well as challenges to improve competiveness and position wind energy as a long term reliable source of power generation.

·         Competition: as growth extends to new regions encouraging the start-ups of new manufactures and challenging leading suppliers to increase their sales production globally the various models of wind turbines continue to challenge suppliers to engineer  a more sustainable and efficient turbine.  

·         Expenditures: Turbine prices and the cost of installation have trended upward, over the last four years after nearly a decade of cost reductions per megawatt of nameplate capacity.  The global market’s boom has shifted the industry from a buyer’s market to a seller’s market in the past three years.

·         Environmental: The fact that wind turbine energy is a renewable source means there is an unlimited possibility that can be generated with the proper research and technology.  The earth’s environment every year takes a serious beating due to the reckless behavior of the men and women who take for granted the limited resources we have and the effect it has on the earth now and the immediate future.

·         Longevity: Again being that wind turbine energy is a renewable source its existence is merely based upon the maintenance and up keeping of the turbine itself.  As long as everything is kept in an orderly form the durability should outlast the demand.  

The Plan

 Introduction:

A habit is considered an acquired behavior pattern regularly followed until it has become almost involuntarily.  This world with the United States, Russia, China, Germany, France and Britain in its forefront for several decades have deteriorated the environment worldwide causing alarming affect on the immediate future.  With the understanding that the just of the technological developments created are merely generated in a more immediate since rather than taking account the weight it holds for the future, it’s easier to discern why the continual production, funding and research of energy sources when there clearly is a damaging effect on the environment.   The production of the nonrenewable energy sources tend to generate more power than the usage of the renewable energy sources causing them to move with the more cost efficient methods.  Due to technology the design of our world now has a need for various primary energy sources just so that our world could function on a day-to-day basis. 

Proposed Idea:

 Now because of various primary energy sources such as petroleum that has such a viable part in the everyday world you can’t reprehend the usage of those vary operations.  What I do suggest is that those primary sources are not a necessity to provide electricity throughout every sector, so with the growing market for wind turbine energy allow that market to become our primary source for electricity and as a secondary use of electricity as needed we could generate electricity through the primary energy sources.  The Darrieus Wind Turbine is a type model turbine with a vertical axis used to generate electricity from the wind.  This turbine consist on several airfoils or wings vertically mounted onto a rotating shaft.  Once the wind begins to rotate the airfoils, that jumpstarts the process converts the kinetic energy in wind into mechanical energy and the beginning of the production of electricity.  The significant phenomenon about the Darrieus Wind Turbine is that all of its mechanical equipment is on the ground making it very easy to install and maintain maintenance.   This is a very cost effective model and cheaper design of wind power.   The widespread of these Wind turbine models would be efficient in both cost and time both a necessity in the growing global demands.