18 facts about Wind energy
- Wind power is the conversion of wind energy into a useful form of energy, such as using wind turbines to make electricity, wind mills for mechanical power, wind pumps for pumping water or drainage, or sails to propel ships.
- Wind energy is very abundant energy source in many parts of the USA.
- Wind energy unlike some thought very economically competitive.
- At the end of 2009, worldwide nameplate capacity of wind-powered generators was 159.2 gigawatts (GW).[
- Wind energy is mostly used to generate electricity.
- Energy production was 340 TWh, which is about 2% of worldwide electricity usage; and is growing rapidly, having doubled in the past three years.
- Wind energy is very exploited in Germany where Germany leads the way with 8750 MW of electrical energy produced from wind energy.
- Several countries have achieved relatively high levels of wind power penetration (with large governmental subsidies), such as 19% of stationary electricity production in Denmark, 13% in Spain and Portugal, and 7% in Germany and the Republic of Ireland in 2008.
- Wind energy is the fastest growing segment of all renewable energy sources.
- As of May 2009, eighty countries around the world are using wind power on a commercial basis.
- Wind energy can be used in nearly 50 % of USA territory.
- Wind energy as a power source is attractive as an alternative to fossil fuels, because it is plentiful, renewable, widely distributed, clean, and produces no greenhouse gas emissions.
- Wind energy is more exploited in Europe than in America, because of favorable climate conditions and because of USA traditional relying on fossil fuels.
- Wind energy is still not used on the global scale in its full potential.
- Wind energy may be costing a bit more than some other energy sources, but its benefits for ecology make wind energy very acceptable energy source.
- Wind energy bad sides are: changeability of wind speed and high construction costs.
- Wind energy theory was discovered in 1919 by German physicist Albert Betz and published in his book Wind-Energie.
- Wind energy could be well used in the prairies because of constant winds.
