The world’s energy crisis

The world is gradually marching towards a severe energy crisis, what with an ever-increasing demand of energy overstepping its supply. We have always known that the energy we use everyday is not unlimited, yet we take it for granted. Oil, gas, power, even water has limited availability. Yet, we have not taken enough precautions to deal with a possible energy crisis. When I say ‘we’, I am not referring to the governments but to all of us, the common people.

Oil and gas have already become too expensive, and with each passing day, they are moving towards being extinct. Some ignorant people think that energy crisis is a myth. They fail to see the big picture. There have been three major energy crises so far – the 1973 oil crisis, the 1979 energy crisis, and the 1990 oil-price hike, apart from several regional crisis.

Prices have been rapidly increasing for the last five years, thanks to the ever-increasing demand and the increasing shortage of energy resources.

How soon will it be all gone?
Are the cynics right in saying that we are making a mountain of a molehill, or is the energy crisis for real? Picture this: We have already exhausted 50 percent of the available oil. At the current rate of consumption, the rest of the oil will finish in 32 years! Imagine if the rate of consumption increases! We all know it is bound to increase. So, even the present generation will face an acute energy crisis in the later years, let alone future generations.

What are we doing about it?
Are we equipped to face the impending energy crisis? What can you and I do to tackle it? For starters, we need to understand the importance of energy in our lives and stop taking it for granted. We have to minimize the use of oil, gas, electricity, or any other fuel. We cannot afford to waste any available energy. It is also important to spread awareness about limited availability of energy resources. Simple things like joining a car pool, switching off car engines at traffic lights, and minimizing the use of gas and oil in everyday activities will help a long way in crisis-readiness.

What are the alternate energy options?
As a responsible world citizen, start looking for alternate energy solutions like solar energy and wind energy. Employing these alternate power solutions is extremely feasible and cost-effective. You will not only cut down your power bills but also contribute to a better future of the world.

A Homemade Wind Turbine

Helix Wind Turbine

The Cost of Wind Power

The cost of wind power has two categories, direct costs and external costs. The following are explanations of both.

Direct costs of wind power
Potential and thus targeted locations for wind farms are far from the population centers. Building wind farms will then require more money for the substations and transmission lines. This is especially costly to those who are in locations sheltered from wind. This is also very expensive to areas that have wide coverage in terms of land. Construction of wind farms for these will be substantially expensive.

The cost of wind power to produce electricity has a few considerations. There will be no fuel used, thus recurrent cost of fuel (that increases every now and then) is eliminated from the considerations. This leaves the cost of construction as the primary cost. Another consideration is the quality of the structures. How long are these assumed to be used? The marginal cost of wind power then is calculated with these two figures. Even though the cost of construction plus quality structures is indeed big, since there are a lot of houses to be covered, it will be easy to recover the money spent as this service will address the electrical needs of the people.

However, since the cost of capital is a risk to investors, there will be a few adjustments to secure the capital spent. Also, the pricing depends on the regime for power producers.

External costs of wind power
These costs are those that are brought on by the energy production. These are called the negative externalities. Wind turbines do not contribute to pollution. However, during the manufacturing stage of materials and parts, an amount of pollution is produced. Also, electric production, even by using wind power, highly contributes to pollution. Pollution is a threat to health.

This also produces carbon dioxide, which is an environmental problem since it contributes to the risks of worsening global warming.

Another external costs include loss of scenery, thus affecting tourism, destruction of wild habitat since construction of wind farms require a huge part of land, and military expenditures for access to fossil fuels. These are just a few of the external costs of wind energy.

Technology can allow us to decrease these external costs. Also, with the external costs of other alternative forms of electrical production, wind power is still less costly.

However, there are also critics who argue that there are factors that must be considered as another factor of cost of wind power. One of these is the unpredictability of wind energy. The electricity produced depends on the strength of the wind. There are cases that there may be no amount of electricity is produced, and there are times when the amount produced can be dangerous. Also, the amount of needs met by the wind farms can provide another issue. For larger populations, larger plants need to be built, thus more structures, in short, more capital is needed. These other factors make wind energy inferior to other sources of energy, thus, the cost of wind power is still in question.

The Advantages of Wind Power Generation

generation is the conversion of wing energy into kinetic energy. This kinetic energy can be in the form of mechanical energy or electrical energy.

Wind power is another alternative source of energy. While this has been used in the past, the realization of its benefits was a little late, because there had been only a few improvements in this alternative to energy sources.

Wind energy is present everywhere where air is moving. The amount of energy that can be produced depends on the speed and strength of wind. Wind energy is also affected by the following factors.
• Density of the air
• Barometric pressure
• Humidity and temperature
• Altitude
When the wind is strong, the energy produced increases, thus the most effective wind turbines in terms of cost are in locations where weather is usually windy. Also, since wind speed is better in higher places, the best wind turbines are located in high places or mounted on towers.
The following are the advantages of wind power generation that pushed a lot of people to further their knowledge about it.
• Unlike other forms of electricity generation, wind power generation generates minimal contribution to pollution. The resources needed for generation of electrical energy using wind power are fewer. Using the wind itself, unlike using coal or gas, the contribution to pollution is less than the other sources of energy.
• The construction, from materials to structures and installations are less destructive to the environment.
• Wind power has the ability to support individual houses or facilities with their need for electricity. This helps a lot in the conservation of energy. If used by individual houses of facilities, their self reliance will help them save more money in the long run. Also, during natural disasters, when there is a high possibility of having the power lines get severed, individual households, and facilities will still have the possibility to have their own supply of electricity.
• For larger populations, larger turbines can be used. This will still address the needs of people, and at the same time this will allow them to save. In fact, this is more cost-effective since they will be able to retain electrical supply in most cases.
• Wind power generation does not require the use if non-renewable resources. The resource needed for recurrent use is just wind. Therefore, this is no possibility of depletion that is a threat to meeting the needs of people and/or to obtaining the resources needed.

Nowadays there are issues about the depletion of resources being used in other forms of electricity generation; a new alternative is another solution aside from finding ways to find alternative resources. Wind power does not make use of non-renewable resources, and that is not all. Electricity produced by wind power can also be a renewable energy.

Studies are still conducted to further learn about wind power as an alternative energy source. Another thing that is being worked on is the ways to eliminate the disadvantages.

History of Wind Power

The history of wind power cannot be traced in detail. However, it is a fact that wind power has been in used for a long time now. In movies about pirates, you will see that the pirates used wind power to propel ships and sailboats.

Winds power has been used for around 5,500 years now, but there has been so little realization about it. In fact, it was only in the later ancient times that wind power has been used to provide power to machines.

The following are some of the facts that were traced when determining the history of wind power.
• Hammurabi, the Babylonian emperor, planned to use it in the 17th century BC for his irrigation project, which for the time seemed to be ambitious.
• One of the first uses for a simple windmill was to provide power to an organ during the 1st century AD.
• It was in 7th century, in Sistan, Afghanistan, when practical windmills were built. These were the first practical windmills that had a long vertical driveshaft and were designed as vertical-axel windmills. These are made with a dozen or so sails and were covered with reed matting or cloth. These windmills were designed to gather up water, and grind corn. These were used in sugarcane industries and grist-milling companies.
• In the beginning of 1180s, horizontal axel windmills were designed and used in Northwestern Europe. These were use to grind flour.
• It was the water-pumping windmills that allowed farmers and ranchers in North America to be able to have access to water all the time. It was in North America where there used to be a problem with access to water, which was a huge problem to farmers and ranchers. Windmills were used to pump water from wells to supply the steam locomotives with enough water.

Charles F. Bush is an American who is usually credited as the first person to have produced electricity with the use of a machine powered by wind. He first used it in the winter of 1887. In that same year, in the month of July, James Blyth was also already doing research and similar experiments. His experiments culminated in 1891 in a United Kingdom patent.

Blyth’s design was a 33 feet high wind turbine in cloth sails. His wind turbine was used to provide power to light the cottage by charging the accumulators that were developed by Camille Alphonse Faure. His cottage is the first house all over the world to have its electricity using wind power.

Blyth offered to the people of Marykirk the extra supply of electricity by lighting the main street. His offer was however turned down, as the product of his wind turbine, electricity, was then regarded as a “work of the devil”. However, this invention was not used as at that time, technology was seen as not economically viable.
• It was in the 1890s when Poul la Cour, a Dane, constructed a wind turbine that can generate electricity. This invention was later used to produce hydrogen.

As the history of wind power was being traced, it was discovered that the first modern turbines were designed and built in the early years of 1980s. Up to this time, more advanced designs are still being studied and developed.

Homebuilt Wind Power Generator

Now that everything seems to be increasing in cost; alternatives are either discovered or developed to address our needs and our desires. In fact, with the boom in the population, our resources are being depleted and we have to find ways to renew them. The needs are highly demanded continuously while sources are now nearly becoming inaccessible to some people.

One of sources under this situation is energy sources. Gas prices, electrical energy getting more costly and environmental issues are the reasons why people are looking for other alternatives that will cost them less, but will address their need.

Two other sources that have been around and been used since for many years are solar energy and wind power.

Wind power is an alternative energy source that has been used for many years. However, there was no improvement in this in the past. Developing and using your very own homebuilt wind generator power is not as hard as someone would think and it can be used to conserve energy.

Building your own wind generator is not expensive. In fact, the materials can be easily found in hardware stores and purchased for around $200. Not only that, you can also save more by using recycled materials. Not only will you be conserving energy with this homebuilt wind generator power, you will also be able to support the green movement.

Aside from materials, you also need a set of instructions. Indeed, you might be able to think of this on your own. However, in order to avoid mistakes that may lead you to spend again or cause accidents, a set of instructions that are proven is still highly suggested. A set of instructions can easily be found on the internet. These devices can also be purchased as kits. First, you will also be given detailed information.

There can be other sources of instructions. However, books and other references are not available everywhere. It is better to find someone who has been building wind generators for a while now.
A homebuilt wind generator power will help you save money and help the environment. This is a cost-effective alternative since the materials are quite cheap and you have the control over it. You can conserve energy as much as you want to. This will teach you and everyone in your household the importance of conservation.

A homebuilt wind generator power can be a great way for you and your family to save money and help the environment at the same time. There are several sources for finding the necessary information for building your own wind powered generator.

Disadvantages of Wind Power

Wind power, as it has been in use for a long time now, is considered to be viable in producing energy. Also, wind power does not cause pollution and its benefits are indeed numerous, but there are also a lot of drawbacks.

The following are the disadvantages of wind power.
• Wind is very unpredictable. This also caused the belief that wind power is not reliable. This is one of the most crucial disadvantages of wind power. When there is a storm, the wind power can produce energy from zero to very strong. Thus, wind turbines are proven to be not able to produce a stable amount of electricity. There are times when there is no electricity, and there are times when the amount of electricity is at a dangerous level.
• The ideal locations for maintaining a wind farm can be very pricey.
• The noise produced by one wind turbine is still tolerable. However, wind farms that use a lot of these will produce a level of noise that is way beyond tolerable.
• The level of energy produced is another problem. The largest wind turbine can actually only provide electricity enough for 475 houses. This means that areas with larger populations will needs lots of big turbines. Also, since these turbines will occupy large areas, the consideration is these farms are somewhat negatively perceived as the locations targeted can actually be used for other residential or business locations.
• While wind power does not contribute to pollution, it has a negative effect to the environment. Birds are attracted to strong winds, thus there is a high possibility of having them, specifically the migrating birds, of getting killed. Also, having to build these structures in large areas, the landscape is affected. A lot of people do not also appreciate the view of large wind turbines. While some see wind mills to be quite attractive, it is undeniably true that large wind turbines are not pleasant to the eyes, especially that they destroy the natural landscapes of places.
• Wind power itself does not contribute to pollution. However, manufacturing the turbines produces some amount of pollution. The production of materials and the manufacture of parts still do cause pollution.

People also noticed that television reception is easily disturbed, especially in the areas surrounding the wind farms.

These disadvantages of wind power, even with the advantages these bring, limited the possibility of utilizing wind turbines at their optimum. These drawbacks have been the reasons why there has been slow improvement with wind power.

Now that new designs are being developed, these disadvantages are being considered. Nowadays that an alterative source of energy is important, it may seem that wind power is given less importance. The advantages of wind power are greatly realized. However, the disadvantages are not really easy to put aside. Researches are also still attempting to reduce these, if not get rid of these one by one.

Amazing Winds

Only used before to push sails and ships forward, wind power is now a source of energy also. Ages ago people either used wind to push ships forward to reach their desired destination or turned it into mechanical energy so they can use it to pump water or to grind grain. Babylonians back in the 17th century BC used wind to power their irrigation devices. Of course, the first windmills also made use of wind power to be able to supply water to farms and plant fields.

Nowadays, people have discovered that wind, amidst its already countless uses, can also be used as a source of electrical power. Wind power can be generated by using wind turbines. These wind turbines are rotating machines that produces mechanical energy by converting the kinetic energy of the wind. Now, selecting a good wind turbine site is essential in developing this wind power. Availability of transmission lines, value of energy to be produced, cost of land acquisition, land use considerations, and environmental impact of construction and operations are just some of the factors that one has to consider when setting up a wind turbine. Benefits like occurance of increased risk of aerodynamic modulation can be obtained from a good wind turbine set up as shown in the studies that have been done in the United Kingdom. Lower aerodynamic modulation often results in noise nuisance that can annoy people who live near the wind turbine site.

From capacities of only 20 to 30 kW, wind turbines these days are larger in size therefore making them more capable of producing greater wind power. These makes them efficient sources of energy for countries such as Germany, United States, Spain, India, China, Denmark and the Faeroe Islands, Italy, France, United Kingdom, Portugal, Canada, Netherlands, Japan, Austria, Greece, Australia, Ireland, and Sweden among others. With 73, 904 kW of total wind power, 65% of these can be accounted to Europe. These countries who use wind power to produce energy enjoy negligible fuel costs and relatively low maintenance costs.

As for its effects on the environment, generating wind power does not need fuel for continuing operation and gives no direct emissions from or which are related to electricity production. Moreover, it has no by-products like carbon dioxide, sulfur dioxide, mercury, particulates, or any other type of air pollution, making it a very environment-friendly way of generating energy. Although one negative effect of setting up these wind turbines that has been reported is its tendency to kill birds that fly or flock near the site’s area. But the number of dead birds can be considered negligible when compared to the number of number of people who die from other human activities such as traffic, hunting, power lines and high-rise buildings.

With only noise and a number of dead birds as its cons, electrical energy derived from wind power is definitely one safe way to produce electricity that we need to run our technology-powered lives.

Cheaper Electrical Costs with Wind Power Generators

With wind power fast becoming a primary energy source, wind power generators are also making its way into the energy-producing industry. From small-scale versions to the really big types, these new innovations can not only help you save thousands of in electricity dollars, they also are much friendlier for the environment.

But before you go on a buying frenzy for these new environmental devices, you must first learn about the basics of these wind power generators. For one, you must consider how much energy you really need. For residential use, there is really no need to buy huge wind power generators. Much less for activities such as battery charging, there are already portable wind power generators (which you can bring along to your office or to camps) that can do the job.

When larger wind power generators are the only ones that can do the job, try checking out your location first. There must be an ample amount of wind that occurs in your area for these generators to properly operate. If you have no idea on how to check your area for ample wind circulation, try checking out the Wind Map of the US Department of Energy on their official website. And if your area falls under a class of 1, this means that your area is efficient for most types of classes of wind turbines as these generators require different minimum classes.

Another thing that you have to consider before heading out to buy wind power generators are the local laws that govern your area. The most common rule for these generators is that they have to be placed on top of buildings. Specific rules from organizations like home associations and the like should also be considered. Local utility companies often also have rules regarding these wind power generators as to whether or not this wind power can be used as extra energy.

In addition to this, landing upon a good and dependable wind power generators is another task that you have to keep in mind. Remember that the cheaper the unit, the more it is likely to breakdown. There are a number of good companies out there that can be found through the internet that offer reliable wind power generators. It is always better to invest in a more costly unit that durability and longevity.

Definitely, these wind power generators are one big help when it comes to our budget. Just imagine dramatically cutting down on your electric bill by having a wind power generator and helping out the environment at the same time. Just keep in mind that you really need to shop around for the best units in the market for you find a generator that is durable and will meet your needs.

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