WHY WIND POWER?
¢ Gain
energy independence
¢ Ease demand on the power grid
¢ Fossil fuels are running out!
¢ Reduce air pollution from fossil
fuel electricity sources
¢ Supplement your photovoltaic
solar power system (get power
when the sun doesn’t shine!)
WIND POTENTIAL
¢ The
U.S. Department of
Energy estimates that the
world's winds could generate
15 times the amount of
energy now used around the
globe, if only we could tap
into them.
US DEPT OF ENERGY TECHNICAL
REPORT – MAY 2008
¢  Findings:
Wind can provide 20% of US electricity
needs by 2030
¢  This could:
¢  •Reduce our CO2 emissions from electricity by
20%
¢  •Reduce natural gas use by 11%
¢  •Reduce water consumption by 4 trillion gallons
by 2030
¢  •Increase local revenues to more than $1.5
billion by 2030
¢  •Support roughly 500,000 jobs in the US with
150,000 workers directly employed by the wind
industry
DOWNFALLS TO WIND
POWER
¢ Wind
farms take up a lot of space,
and some people think they're just
plain ugly.
¢ Effects on migratory bird
populations and bat populations
¢ Wind is unreliable at times
¢ Noise
¢ High initial cost
RENEWABLE WIND ENERGY
FACTS:
¢ More
than 20 million homes
worldwide
¢ are powered by renewable
¢ energy sources.
¢ Wind and Solar are among the
¢ Wind Energy
¢ fastest growing industries.
¢ U.S. now has more than 10,000 MW
¢ of wind energy installed.
HOW WIND POWER WORKS
¢ Wind is created by the unequal
heating of the Earth’s surface by
the sun. Wind turbines convert
the kinetic energy in the wind
into mechanical power that runs
a generator to produce clean,
nonpolluting electricity.
HOW ARE WE DOING?
¢ According
to the Department of
Energy the US was using wind
power for 1.9% of its electrical
production in 2010.
¢ Its goal is for the US to be at
20% by the year 2030. We
received a B/C on the most
recent report card.
WOLF ISLAND, ONTARIO, CANADA
MAPLE RIDGE WIND FARM
LOWVILLE, NY