The wind turbine as an energy source that has an important role
From early in the history of mankind, the wind was used as an energy source (motor for boats or windmills pumping water or grinding). Today we explore its use to produce electricity.
The use of wind turbines to generate electricity on a large scale began in Denmark at the end of the last century and has spread worldwide. Through various components, wind turbine generators use their power to produce electricity.
The turbines are operated when the wind reaches a speed of about 19 to 21 km / h (ie, it takes a wind of at least moderate intensity, a breeze is not enough). When the wind stops, the wind farms use batteries to continue to deliver electricity. The wind turbine generators usually have a standard size (15 to 30 meters in diameter, with a capacity between 100 and 400 kW).
In Denmark and the Netherlands, where land-based turbines are typically located in flat terrain, offshore wind turbines produce 50 percent more energy than those in nearby onshore site. The reason is the low surface roughness of the sea.
On the other hand, the construction and installation of offshore foundations require 50 percent more energy than land. Finally, offshore wind turbines have a longer expected lifetime than onshore turbines, about 20 to 30 years.
The disadvantages of wind turbines are, for many users, aesthetic and environmental. Aesthetic because the presence of wind farms interrupted and disturbed by the vision of the landscape and environmental because the birds die because they can not avoid on your routes the blades of wind turbines. Given these disadvantages, the Danes notes:
Tjaereborg radar studies in the western part of Denmark, where there is installed a 2 MW wind turbine with a rotor diameter of 60 meters, show that birds (either day or night) tend to change their flight path about 100-200 meters before the turbine, and pass over it at a safe distance.
And ensure that the birds get accustomed and learn to live together in the landscape with wind turbines, but suggest studying bird migration routes after installation of a wind farm. They suggest a number of considerations for landscape installation and construction of areogeneradores. In any case, the environmental impact is much smaller than that produced a power plant to coal or oil, the impact on wildlife is minimal compared with that of a hydroelectric plant, and essentially zero risk compared to a nuclear power plant.