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Wind Energy

Wind energy is actually a form of solar energy. When the sun warms up the ground in an area the air expands and tries to find a place to expand. Since the sun doesn’t shine everywhere everyday there are always cold spots where the air will attempt to rush to. This creates a convection process that is similar to the circulating air inside of an oven.

The larger the difference in air temperature the faster the wind will be which makes it common in the mountains where temperatures fluctuate significantly as well as around coastal areas where water and land meet. Water is extremely good at retaining heat. It takes a lot of energy to change water temperature which is often why there are strong storms in island and coastal areas.

Wind energy is harnessed by taking the force of the air rushing past and converting it into mechanical energy through the use of rotors and blades. The process is the same process that allows airplane propellers to generate forward movement and is known as the Bernoulli effect. As the air rushes past the blades it will separate some of the air molecules and send one over a flat surface while the other goes over a longer curved surface. They meet at the end but one molecule traveled further and thus faster which converts into mechanical rotation of the vanes which can be used to turn a generator and other devices.

 

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