Escolar Documentos
Profissional Documentos
Cultura Documentos
ASSIGNMENT 1
by
Page
2.0 Applications 2
3.0 Advantage 4
4.0 Disadvantage 6
7.0 Conclusion 12
8.0 Reference 12
1.0 Type of Energy
Due to the depletion of energy resources in recent years, there are greatly increased in
popularity of using renewable energy such as solar, wind and geothermal energy in generating
electricity. According to Bratley, J. (2017), wind power become more popular after a Scottish
academic - James Bltyh created the first electricity generating turbine in the year of 1887 to
Basically, wind energy is a type of renewable energy that utilise wind to generate
mechanical energy by moving the wind turbine. As the turbine moving, the mechanical energy
will be converted into electrical energy. In simpler words, wind energy is the process that used
A wind turbine consists of propeller blades that convert the energy in the wind to
rotational shaft energy. Besides, it also has a gearbox and a generator in rotating housing; and
a tower that supports the rotor and drive train (Wind Energy EIS, 2018). Figure 1.0 shows the
tall tower with a large propeller blade on top. The wind will move the propeller blade round and
thus the kinetic of the propeller will be converted into mechanical energy. The mechanical
energy will then turn a generator to generate electricity. In order to produce more electricity,
more towers are tend to be built together to make a wind farm (Refer Figure 2.0) (Darvill, A.
2016).
Figure 1.0: Tall tower with a large propeller blade on top (Darvill, A. 2016)
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Figure 2.0: Wind farm (Darvill, A. 2016)
2.0 Application
Wind energy is known as the kinetic energy of moving air. In energy conversion system,
wind energy is commonly being converted into various type of energy such as electrical energy
and mechanical energy. This renewable energy can reduce and replace the usage of non-
renewable energy. Generally, wind energy can be applied in various fields, such as industrial,
agriculture, transportation and sports (Your Article Library, 2018; Green Diary, 2018).
a) Industrial
Nowadays, many small scale industries prefer to apply hybrid power system, which
consist of renewable energy and non-renewable energy for operating the industry. Wind energy
is commonly being chosen for electricity generation. By using windmill and wind turbine, wind
energy can convert the kinetic energy to electrical energy by rotating the propellers to spin the
b) Agriculture
In term of agriculture, plants watering is a major issue in order to ensure the growth
healthy growth of the plants. By installing the multi-blade windmill, wind energy can operate
and force the water pump to draw water from the water source. The kinetic energy of wind is
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c) Transportation
Wind energy can be used for moving vehicles such as sailboat, small ship, cargo ship as
well as car. For sailboat, wind energy is able to move the boat by applying force on the main
sail and headsail. The direction of moving can be adjusted by controlling the stays and shrouds.
For car, cargo ships and others, wind energy able to move these vehicles with the aid of huge
kite. In the meanwhile, when car is moving by the wind energy, the car batteries can be charged
and the power generated from wind energy is stored to run the car when there is lack of wind
energy.
d) Sports
Generally, there is a number of sports which conducted by relying on the wind power.
These sports are commonly known as wind sport. For example, kite, parasailing and
paragliding, wind surfing, sailing, hot air balloon and others. Wind sports required non-rigid air
foil to work together along with the wind power. The kinetic energy of the wind is the main
However, there are some factors which will affect the performance of the wind energy. The
main factor which affects the efficiency of wind power are the wind potential, wind acceptor
location as well as the condition of air (Alberta, 2018). Table 1.0 shows the description on each
of the factors.
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Table 1.0: Factor affecting wind power performance
Factor Description
Wind Potential In order for the wind energy system to function, adequate supply of wind
Wind Acceptor The windmill should not be located at location which near to the trees or
Location hills as these can interfere the rotation of the rotors. Low wind velocity
air in winter time. This is due to the condition of the air. Air is commonly
denser in winter when comparing to summer. Denser air has higher kinetic
energy. In term of pressure, low air pressure creates less dense air. Thus,
higher altitude location with higher air pressure can obtained higher wind
power.
3.0 Advantage
Wind energy has continuously provided the world with the option of sustainable and
renewable energy. Its large potential in supplying clean power causes scientists from US
Department of Energy to consistently find ways to efficiently harness wind energy. In 2008, a
team of researchers from US Department of Energy stated that wind energy has the capability
in supplying 20% of the world electricity by 2030 provided that the technologies are advanced
and efficient enough (US DOE, 2008). The following shows the advantages in embracing wind
energy:
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a) Inexhaustible, Renewable and Sustainable Energy Source
Wind energy is a renewable, sustainable energy that is generated from natural resources
and is replenished naturally. Unlike fossil fuel, wind is constantly available and shall never run
out for as long as the sun still shines. Wind energy can be harnessed and converted to power
across the grid. Fossil fuel is projected to only last in the next 50 years, making wind energy as
Wind energy is one of the most green energy sources available as it does not produce or
emit any greenhouse gases (such as carbon dioxide and methane) or toxic fumes (such as carbon
monoxide and sulfur dioxide). According to American Wind Energy Association (2014), wind
energy has reduced the carbon dioxide emission from the direct power-sector by 115 million
metric tons, which is equivalent to the carbon dioxide emission of 20 million cars. To that effect,
the sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides emissions were also reduced by 157,00 metric tons and
97,000 metric tons. As a result, wind turbines do not produce atmospheric emission that causes
c) Cost Effective
runs out, and can be freely utilized by anyone. In comparison to other energy sources, land-
based wind utility offers one of the cheapest energy sources, which costs between 2 and 6 cents
per kWh (US DOE, 2018). In 2013, the wind power purchase agreements were signed, where
the average levelized price was estimated to be 2.5 cents per kWh (Wiser & Bolinger, 2014).
Since wind is free and there are no purchase costs for fuel, wind energy systems
generally have a low operational expenses. The nonexistent fuel costs in wind energy system
protects its consumers from fluctuating price uncertainty such as in traditional fuel sources (coal,
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natural gas). Its capital is primarily on the installation project of commercial wind turbine and
4.0 Disadvantage
Despite the numerous benefits of wind energy, it also has its disadvantages and
challenges that need to be addressed. Some of the major disadvantages are listed in the
following:
While wind cannot be depleted, it is not always readily available with high wind speed
in certain parts of the world. Due to geographical location and weather condition, there will
only be electricity when there is enough wind blowing to move the turbine blades. Therefore,
wind energy is not entirely reliable as it is expected stop producing electricity every now and
then. Moreover, good wind sites are usually located in the remote areas – far away from the
cities, where electricity is needed the most (Jaber, 2013). Consequently, transmission lines need
to be installed to transfer the power from the wind sites to the city. While this may solve the
issue, it will also, however, incur a hefty installation cost to build the power lines.
Similar to solar energy, wind energy has the same disadvantage where it is not a
constantly available energy source. Wind is extremely volatile and not uniform in its pattern.
The wind intensity varies by geographical location throughout the year and hours of the day. In
order to produce the correct amount of electricity, the wind turbines need to spin at the right
pace. When there is barely any wind blowing, the wind turbines are rendered useless, as there
will be no electricity produced. As a result, prior to setting up a wind farm, year-long research
need to be conducted to make sure the location is appropriately windy throughout the season.
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c) Threatens Wildlife
Spinning wind turbines has been reported to increase the mortality rate of flying animals,
as birds and bats keep flying into the moving blades (US DOE, 2018). According to
Environment Canada, there were an estimated of 45,000 bird deaths due to the collisions with
the turbine blades over the past 20 years (Nature Canada, 2018). The deaths of wild birds still
persisted even though some attempts have been made such as painting the blades in conspicuous
d) Noise Pollution
Wind energy system also negatively influences human health and wellbeing,
particularly those living near the wind farm as they are affected by the noise produced by the
spinning wind turbines. The noises from wind turbines are mainly due to mechanical noise from
the gearbox and generator as well as aerodynamic noise caused by the collisions between the
blades and the wind (Jaber, 2013). Therefore, the wind farm need to be set up far away from
residential/ populated areas and this further limits the amount of locations that the wind farm
can be built.
There are various factors that need to be taking into consideration in deciding the
According to Darvill, A. (2016), the average wind speed need to be around 25 km/hr in
order to generate electricity from the wind turbine. Hence, the wind farm must build in a place
with strong, frequent and steady winds such as at coastal area, at the top of rounded hills, at
open plains and gaps in mountains. In United States, most wind farms are built between
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Midwest and the West Coast in the region of that country. It is because fastest winds occur at
that region and this make them the best place to build wind turbine (Brenner, L., 2018).
The wind farms and turbines should be built in unpopulated areas with inexpensive
access to power grids. Even though some places such as across the Great Plains are suitable to
build wind farm, however the problem arose when extra costs are needed to build transmission
lines and equipment in order to access the power grid. In addition, it is not worthy to build the
wind farm if the cost needed for power grid access exceed the overall benefits that we can obtain
c) Noise
Furthermore, wind farm should not be work in crowded residential areas since the noise
pollutions created by the turbines will bother human life. According to Darvill, A. (2016), the
wind generator will produce a constant, low, "swooshing" noise at day and night. Thus, wind
farm should not be built near to residential areas. The wind turbine should build at least 300
meters far from the residential areas so that the decibel level of the wind turbine is acceptable
by the residents in which the noise will not annoyed the residents at the place (refer Figure 3.0).
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d) Turbine Height
Since there is more wind at higher elevations, thus the height of the wind turbine has
significant effect on the amount of wind it receives. In addition, the taller the turbine height, the
furthest away it is from the obstacles. Thus, more wind is available to move the turbine. This
means that turbine height can affect the amount of electricity generated by the turbine. By
referring to Figure 4.0, as the tower height increases, the wind power also increases (Wind
Solar Energy.ORG, 2010). Hence, the taller the wind turbine, the higher the efficiency of it
Figure 4.0: The effect of tower height towards the wind power (Wind Solar Energy.ORG,
2010)
Wind energy is a renewable energy that converts the kinetic energy from the wind into
the electricity. In European countries, the wind energy has become an important energy source
that generates the electricity in order to meet the energy demand of the country. It can be clearly
shown in Figure 5.0. The power generation capacity in European countries has been increased
throughout the years. According to Wind Europe (2017), the wind energy has become the
second largest energy source that used for power generation in 2016.
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Figure 5.0: The total power generation capacity in European countries (Wind Europe, 2017).
However, it cannot be denied that there have ethical issues involved when the wind
energy used as the energy source for power generation. According to Knopper and Ollson
(2011), the wind energy can affect human health in two ways which are the design of the wind
turbine and the sound pollution from the wind turbine. In order to convert the wind energy to
the electricity, the wind turbine is the first device to collect the kinetic energy from the wind.
In European countries, the wind farm is established in order to generate a large scale of
electricity. The wind farm is the land that consists of a group of wind turbines for power
generation. For the improper design of the wind turbine, it can bring the hazards to the
surrounding. For instance, ice throw and structural failure of the wind turbine can cause serious
hazards to the people nearby and the passing vehicles (Krogh et al., 2014). In order to reduce
the risk, a standardized methodology is developed to determine the risk of ice throw and blade
failure (Megavind, 2016). From there, the precaution or control measures need to be
Besides, the wind turbine can produce noise during the power generation which it has
the potential to bring the impact on human health. The residential area near to the wind farm
suffers to the noise from the wind farm. This can disturb the sleeping of the people nearby and
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annoy the people. According to Krogh et al. (2014), dizziness, problems with memory and
concentration are the examples of the symptoms after exposure to noise of wind turbine for a
long period. In Demark, the noise limit from the wind turbine is set as shown in Table 2.0. By
this way, the constructor will take into consideration before the development of wind farm.
Table 2.0: Noise limit of the wind turbine in Demark (Megavind, 2016).
Residential areas 37 39
Inside a house
In addition, implementation of the wind turbine can bring the effects to the animal,
especially birds. The effects include collision fatalities and loss of habitats (Department of
Conservation, 2009). By referring to the same source, there are many raptors collide with the
turbine at Altamont Pass in California and Tarifa in Spain. This is due to the inappropriate of
scale and location of the wind farm. When a larger of wind farm established, it will cause
habitats of birds lost. According to Department of Conservation (2009), the wind farm located
near to Napier contains 75 turbines and it occupies 30 km2. The land has been taken to install
the turbine and access road for electricity generation. In European Union, Birds Directive has
been established in order to protect the habitats of the species through the development of a
network of Special Protection Areas. In the directive, it clearly state that the member states
should not carry out the activities which can bring the negative effect to the bird (Hansen, 2011).
In order to minimize the negative effect of the wind farm development, a Guidance Document
has been developed. In the document, it specifies the use of strategic planning, marine spatial
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planning and suitability analysis (Hansen, 2011). By this way, the wind farm can be developed
at the suitable location for power generation at the same time it doesn’t bring huge impact to
human health.
Last but not least, the wind turbine can affect the proper operation of radar (Megavind,
2016). The radar system normally has been installed at the airport which used to monitor the air
traffic. When the radar is affected by the wind turbine, the radar system cannot monitor the
condition and lead to produce false signals. By this way, it can cause a serious incident. The
second gap-fill radar should be installed as the supplement in order to prevent the problem.
7.0 Conclusion
In conclusion, wind energy as one of the major renewable energy is beneficial to the
environment as well as human being. Besides, wind energy is cost effective and required low
operational cost. This renewable energy can be applied in various fields such as industrial,
agriculture, transportation, sports and others. In general, wind energy function by converting
the kinetic energy of the moving air to either mechanical energy for water pumping or electrical
energy for electricity supply. In order to install the wind energy system, geographical and ethical
should take into consideration. Several factors which included in the geographical consideration
are the power grid access, noise, turbine height as well as the stability and velocity of wind.
Ethical consideration focused on the effect of wind energy system to the community,
8.0 References
https://www1.agric.gov.ab.ca/$department/deptdocs.nsf/all/eng4445
American Wind Energy Association. (2014). US Wind Industry Annual Market Report 2013.
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Bratley, J. (2017). The uses of wind energy. Retrieved from https://www.clean-energy-
ideas.com/wind/wind-energy/uses-of-wind-energy
Brenner, L. (2018). The best places to put wind turbines to produce electricity. Retrieved from
https://sciencing.com/places-wind-turbines-produce-electricity-5159049.html
https://www.flickr.com/photos/cats-eye-view/58448250/
http://www.darvill.clara.net/altenerg/wind.htm
Department of Conservation. (2009). Impacts of wind farms on birds: A review. Retrieved from
http://www.doc.govt.nz/Documents/science-and-technical/sfc289entire.pdf
is-energy/energy-sources/wind-energy/
https://greendiary.com/5-innovative-wind-energy.html
Hansen, H. S. (2011). Obstacles for wind energy development due to EU legislation. Retrieved
from http://www.southbaltic-offshore.eu/news/imgs-
media/Legal_obstacles_for_wind_energy_due_to_EU_legislation_HSH_December_2
011.pdf
Jaber, S. (2013). Environmental impacts of wind energy. Journal of Clean Energy Technologies,
1(3), 251-254.
Knopper, L. D., & Ollson, C. A. (2011). Health effects and wind turbines: A review of the
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Krogh, C. M., Jeffrey, R. D., Aramini, J., & Horner, B. (2014). Wind turbines can harm humans:
https://ens.dk/sites/ens.dk/files/Forskning_og_udvikling/technological_solutions_to_re
duce_the_environmental_impacts_of_wind-energy_systems_2016.pdf
bird-lives/wind-turbines/
US Department of Energy (US DOE). (2008). 20% wind energy by 2030: Increasing wind
https://www.energy.gov/eere/wind/20-wind-energy-2030-increasing-wind-energys-
contribution-us-electricity-supply
US Department of Energy (US DOE). (2018). Advantages and challenges of wind energy.
energy
http://windeis.anl.gov/guide/basics/
content/uploads/files/about-wind/statistics/WindEurope-Annual-Statistics-2017.pdf
Wind Solar Energy.ORG. (2010). Best locations for wind power. Retrieved from
http://www.windsolarenergy.org/map-of-best-locations-for-wind-power.htm
Wiser, R., & Bolinger, M. (2014). 2013 Wind Technologies Market Report. U.S. Retrieved from
http://energy.gov/eere/wind/downloads/2013-wind-technologies-market-report
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Your Article Library. (2018). Wind energy and its application. Retrieved from
http://www.yourarticlelibrary.com/paragraphs/wind-energy-and-its-application/477
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