The Application Of Wind Environmental Sciences Essay

Wind comes from the suns uneven heating onto the earth surfaces, as hot air raises cold air sinks; there is a change in pressure, from high to low. Hence the change in pressure generated the movement of the air, as such wind is produced. Wind can be identifying as air in motion.

Application of wind came a long way back to the past; during ancient time, sea explorers use wind with the help of the sails to sail through the seven seas. As for agriculture, farmers built simple windmills to grind the grains and also to pump water from the flowing rivers. And as technology advances, companies and researchers are coming up with designs and solutions to harness wind as a source of power in a greater scale.

The Growth of Wind Power

As technologies increases within time, human beings tends to create new things to ease works in life. Hence technology took a great part in the growth of wind power. In the earlier days, wind power was first used as mechanical power; this mechanical power was generated through the help of wind mill. The four blades wind mill generates mechanical power which helps to basically do all sorts of task: pumping of water, grinding of grains or even sawing of woods.

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But things changed in the 19th century, where electrical generators are introduced; people tried to fit in electrical generator into the wind mills in order to harness electricity. But results were not that ideal and slowly this electricity harnessing wind mills are forgotten. Even though such technology did die down or went missing for a century or so, it came back with a larger version of the olden days wind mill, it is called the wind turbine. Wind turbines first started off from rural areas where there are hills and mountains, which are known as onshore wind turbines or wind farms. But slowly it emerged with the help of new technology into shallow waters; shallow waters are places near the seas or oceans where they are nearer to the shore and easy to access. Then again technology took wind turbines studies to another level, which is what all companies had an eye on: deep water wind turbines.

The evolution of wind mills to wind turbines till the recent offshore wind power, the next section we will be looking at the new wind power.

What is Wind Power?

A single wind turbine consists of a tower acting as a base and a fan-like propeller attached to the top of the base; energy is harnessed through the wind and the propeller. A series of wind turbines made up to a wind farm, a one stop of electrical energy power station.

Advantages of Wind Power in General.

Firstly, there is an abundant of wind everywhere; anywhere there is a high velocity of wind could be the location of a wind turbine.

Secondly, during the operation of wind turbines and wind farms there are no air or land pollutions reported. It reduces global carbon foot prints.

Thirdly, wind turbines come in a range of sizes and designs to cater to different needs.

Lastly, with the increment of wind farms the cost of electricity may decrease.

Disadvantages of Wind Power in General.

Firstly, even though wind is abundant; wind is more or less predictable through seasons. There are possibilities of unsteady wind flow which might lead to wind farms not being able to produce enough electricity or power as per its peak.

Secondly, wind farms produce “silent” pollution. As wind farms are greatly known as the non-polluting energy, little that many knows that it still do it parts in pollution; not to the environment but to the surrounding people. Pollutions like noise and vibration produced by operating the turbines.

Types of wind power

In Chapter 1 section 1.2 The Growth of Wind Power, it states that wind power have been brunched out into three different groups, namely: Onshore, Shallow Water and Deep Water, which is also known as offshore. In the later chapters of this literature review, we will look at the different types of wind power in depth.

WindmillOnshore wind farm

wind farm california The Worlds Most Amazing Wind Farms

Onshore wind farm

lynn and inner dowsing wind farm1 The Worlds Most Amazing Wind Farms

Offshore wind farm

floating wind turbine The Worlds Most Amazing Wind Farms

Floating deep water wind turbine

: Onshore Wind Farm

2.1 Introduction on Onshore Wind Farm

Onshore wind farms are modules of wind turbines which are formed in a certain pattern or layout; and they are largely situated in area which is open freely to wind flow of supply between 5-15 m/s. Mostly over at the sub-urban areas: agriculture, country-side and mountain or hill tops.

It is located mostly in U.S.A. and a few are in the United Kingdom, China and Australia. And as of 2012, the world’s largest onshore wind farm in terms of ‘Current Capacity’ is Alta Wind Energy Centre in the USA; with 1020 MW on the record.

2.2 Two Types of Onshore Wind Turbines

For Onshore wind turbines it is commonly categorized under two groups, namely: Horizontal Axis Wind Turbine (HAWT) and Vertical Axis Wind Turbine (VAWT). As per what the name HAWT says, its blades are designed to be parallel to the ground where as for VAWT; its blades are designed perpendicularly to the ground.

horizontal axis wind turbineVertical Axis Wind Turbine

HAWT & VAWT

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For Horizontal Axis Wind Turbines (HAWT), there are three different designs under its belt:

Design(s):

Design’s brief:

Up wind turbines

This design usually comes with a tail-like rudder that controls the hub and the blades so as to make sure the turbine will counter the wind direction at all times, even when there is a change of direction of the wind.

Down wind turbines

This design is of such that the wind will come in contact with the tower before it reaches the blades.

Shrouded wind turbines

This design has an additional of a structure which resembles a funnel that will capture the maximum flow of the wind to the blades.

As for Vertical Axis Wind Turbines (VAWT), there are two different designs, namely: Savonius wind turbine and Darrieus wind turbine.

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_bt_33o-gQoY/Ra_T3AujXgI/AAAAAAAAAHI/BLAGytHjR2Y/s320/savonius.jpg

Fig.

2.3 Advantages and Disadvantages of Both Types

Horizontal Axis Wind Turbine

Advantages

Disadvantages

Self-start system

Single direction wind intake

Stand-alone design

2. Installation is tedious

Able to harness high speed wind

Relevant to electricity

Vertical Axis Wind Turbine

Advantages

Disadvantages

Wind intake from all direction

Needs a mechanism to start

Installation is easy, as lesser materials are use

Require mooring in order to support the structure

Design only caters to slow wind speeds

2.4 Issues and Problems

Affects Avian

During the late 1980s it has been reported that birds are found death or injured by the wind turbines. Birds in the United States namely the Golden Eagles and the Red-tailed Hawks were being killed by the wind turbines or by electrocution. As both types of avian spices are under the federal’s protection scheme, it draws wildlife and avian activists’ attentions. And slowly as the increase of wind farms being built in the different parts of the world, it started to harm the birds living around the farms.

Birds being killed by collisions with the turbines; airplanes has their own flight zone, so does the birds, having a wind farms situated right in the flight zone will eventually cause more damages to the birds living in that area.

As more wind turbines and electrical cables are built and planted, birds being electrocuted are common; as birds will tend to build the nest on the hub or on top of the tower, electrocutions are inevitable.

Migration of bird spices; having foreign objects or obstacles in the birds’ daily life does increase the tendency of it shifting to somewhere else. But then again the problem lies with how many in total percentage of the birds managed to survive through migration.

With issues surfaced, engineers and activists came up ways to resolve it; by reducing the turbines to be built in flight zones, clearing of birds’ nests and not to expose electrical cables.

Noise Pollutions

For wind turbines, there are two types of contribution to the noise pollution, namely: aerodynamic noise and mechanical noise. Aerodynamic noise is produced by the turbine’s blades, which creates sounds with rotating blades. Whereas for mechanical noise, it is produced by the fiction and the gears in the hubs. Some noises are inaudible and some are not which are produced by the wind turbines that is built in the sub-urban areas are harming the people that lives there.

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