Advantages and Disadvantages of Wind Farms
Advantages and Disadvantages of Wind Farms
By Viola Woolcott
Wind Power does not contribute to Global warming and it does not produce dangerous waste. It is a very good method of supplying energy to remote areas.
Surveys show that eight out of ten people are in favour of wind energy. It is one of the most popular energy technologies and a new report says that the turbines are being installed faster than predicted.
The most suitable areas for wind farms are often nearer to the coast, tops of rounded hills, as well as gaps in mountains and open plains - areas and places where the wind is strong and reliable. The wind speed needs to be of an average of 25km/h.
From the European countries, the UK is the windiest country. Therefore when energy demand is at its highest, the resources are much greater during the colder month of the year.
To create wind farms, lots of towers are placed together. As the wind is stronger away from the ground, the propellers are placed on tall towers to extract as much energy as possible. Warm air rises – cold air blows in to replace it, therefore creates ‘wind’ which blows the propeller round, which in turn produces electricity by turning the generator. The land beneath can still be used for i.e. farming, as for the high height of the propellers.
By the year 2020 UK government figures show that all wind power will be cheaper than our newest nuclear power stations.
In Denmark, 20% of electricity already comes from wind power.
Thousands of new jobs could be brought to the UK using offshore engineering skills used by the declining gas and oil industry.
Wind Turbines are unlikely to be terrorist targets unlike nuclear power stations.
Some of the disadvantages of Wind Farms are that on some days there is no wind – it is not always predictable.
The reception of local television can be affected and the generators have a reputation of being ‘noisy’, making a constant, low but ‘whistling’ noise throughout the day.
Wind Power works, creates jobs and is abundant, reliable, affordable as well as clean and has become very popular.
Filed under: Environment | Green Issues on November 28th, 2007
hi i am 13 years old and i’m producing a project for science on wind energy and i’m looking into wind farms i was just wondering where you got your information
Yours sincerely
Chloe
Hi there Chloe - the best I can suggest to do a science project of this kind is to have a look online. You can always put wind farms (windfarms) into any search engine and see what comes up. I am sure it will be a good project
Good Luck!
Viola
Well I kind of agree. But don’t you conceive there’s more to it?
Yes, of course. There is always more to everything.
I find this article very helpful. But my concern is that you have been very brief especially on the disadvantages. I wish I knew more
I am really intrested in saving the world. (I don’t want to do it as a job, though, I have something else in mind.) I like to use the internet to find out more. Also, I’m doing a science project. It’s about Wind Farms, and I’m really passionate about it. I like to help the enviroment whenever I can.
LOL, (lots of love), Braniac kid.