Tuesday, August 11, 2009

Understanding Wind Power Electricity For Future Use

By Denzil De Vries

Wind power electricity is not a new phenomenon. Wind farms have been generating power for public utility companies for nearly three decades. It isn't until recently with worldwide economic collapse and a new realization of the finite nature of fossil fuels that government's world wide are paying closer attention to this energy source.

On shore wind farms already exist around the world in small numbers. The largest of these is in Texas, United States of America. The farm contains 420 wind turbines and produces enough electricity to power 200,000 homes each year. Energy from the farms is fed into the public grid and sold to the government and power companies at pre-negotiated prices. The key to energy independence is incorporating multiple approaches to supplying energy. It is infinitely important to include solar in the alternative energy plan.

Denmark and the United Kingdom have taken major steps in including wind power into their nation's energy plans for the future. Australia has approximately 42 wind farms with it's largest farm, Lake Bonney Wind Farm, dolling out an estimated 230 MW of power annually. Other countries stepping up to the plate include Morocco, Japan, India, Brazil and the Philippines.

The funding of wind power initiatives has generally come from the private business sector and entrepreneurs. The farms receive massive tax cuts and rebates but the initial capital needed for investment, research and development has generally come from private sources, rather than government funding.

A sizeable amount of the world's energy can come from wind power electricity. Energy production has been focuses on oil for obvious economical and political purposes. With the world in a recession combining wind energy with other alternative sources is going to save money, the planet and create jobs.

Many are making energy production personal with the use of small wind turbines. Rebates, tax, credits and low interest government loans are available in the United States to aid small wind turbine projects. Participants of these projects have been farms, hotels, homes and schools.

The power of wind energy has to be viewed on a micro and macro scale. It is easy to assume that a few massive wind farms would generate all of our power electricity. However, that is not at all where the success of wind farms lie. Many smaller organizations are installing wind turbines and generating enough energy to cover their energy needs and selling the excess energy back to the power companies.

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