Wind Energy Basics

This video provides an overview of the National Wind Technology Center and its research.
Video produced for NREL by Fireside Production.

We have been harnessing the wind's energy for hundreds of years. From old Holland to farms in the United States, windmills have been used for pumping water or grinding grain. Today, the windmill's modern equivalent—a wind turbine—can use the wind's energy to generate electricity.
How It Works

Wind turbines, like windmills, are mounted on a tower to capture the most energy. At 100 feet (30 meters) or more aboveground, they can take advantage of the faster and less turbulent wind. Turbines catch the wind's energy with their propeller-like blades. Usually, two or three blades are mounted on a shaft to form a rotor.

A blade acts much like an airplane wing. When the wind blows, a pocket of low-pressure air forms on the downwind side of the blade. The low-pressure air pocket then pulls the blade toward it, causing the rotor to turn. This is called lift. The force of the lift is actually much stronger than the wind's force against the front side of the blade, which is called drag. The combination of lift and drag causes the rotor to spin like a propeller, and the turning shaft spins a generator to make electricity.

Category:

Science & Technology

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[portoqwerty]

@nnnnnn7678 first law of thermodynamics, energy cannot be created or destroyed, many people make that claim that you can get a perpetual motion device using magnets on a rotor but i have yet to see anyone demonstrate a gain in energy, only convert it it to kinetic energy and back while reducing friction. but has always resulted in a loss of energy, and i have never seen a gain in energy within any N-machine system.

[nnnnnn7678]

You can make that wind turbine go around for ever, and you don't need wind, you need a magnet motor in the turbine, and that will go on for ever like electricity for ever.

[kingkongrichie]

Germany is a country that is supplied off WIND energy. Google it, the USA needs to catch up, wind and solar energy is a must.

[dazzha73]

they about a century aheeeeeeeee==

[pacificcresttrans]

Great! Wind energy research is a must especially in places like the United States which has great potential to harness the power of the wind. According to the U.S. Department of Energy, almost 29,000 MW of wind power is currently generated in the United States as of April 2009...Transformer company, Pacific Crest Transformers offers custom built energy-efficient transformers for wind energy farms.

[SaveVMK145]

Informational ::)

[n6700c]

thats GREEN!