3 Surprising Facts About Wind Energy
3 Things You’d Be Surprised to Learn About Wind Energy
Wind energy is one of the most common forms of renewable energy. When you’re driving down a highway in almost any state in the United States, you can spot industrial-power wind turbines along the side of the road.
Even if you aren’t sure exactly how they function, you probably know that the wind makes the blades turn and that the turning of the blades somehow generates electricity. While that’s great to know, we want to help you expand your knowledge beyond that.
Whether you want to get a better understanding of how wind energy works or you’re looking for new material for trivia questions, here are three things you might be surprised to learn about wind energy.
1. Strong gusts of wind sound great in theory but aren’t ideal for producing wind energy.
Wind turbines rely on wind in order to generate energy, so you’d think that really windy areas would be ideal for this purpose, right? Not exactly. These machines are actually much better off in areas with steady—but mild—wind patterns. Here’s why.
Think about the little pinwheels you can buy at the dollar store—the rainbow-colored ones that are made out of paper or some other flimsy material. You stick it in your garden and watch the breeze spin it round and round.
But what happens when a big gust of wind comes flying through? Best case scenario: One of the “blades” gets damaged. Worst case scenario: The entire pinwheel gets uprooted and knocked over.
While industrial-power wind turbines are certainly made to withstand a lot more than a 2-foot-tall pinwheel, they still have their limits. Though a heavy storm won’t knock a wind turbine over, strong gusts of wind can damage the blades and make the entire machine less effective.
2. There’s a reason wind turbines are so tall, and they’re only going to keep getting taller.
Let’s say you’re on a hike up a mountain. When you start the hike, the weather is relatively mild and enjoyable. As you get closer and closer to the top, you might notice that the weather is changing. More specifically, the wind is getting stronger and more frequent.
This is because the higher up you go, the fewer obstructions the wind will encounter. No longer do you have the trees and hills to block some of the wind once you’re at the top. There’s nothing between you and the natural flow of the air.
The same idea applies to wind turbines. The taller they are, the more fluid, constant wind they are exposed to. With more access to steady wind, they are able to work more efficiently. Today, the average wind turbine reaches nearly 300 feet, and engineers are working to create even taller, better wind turbines for the future.
3. Wind farms are designed to last upward of 20 to 25 years.
Wind turbines are expensive to make and install—not to mention, time consuming. If they only lasted a couple of years, they’d end up costing more money in the long run than they are worth for energy production.
Because of this, wind farms—made up of anywhere from a handful to thousands of wind turbines—are designed to last for at least a couple of decades. As technology improves, the average lifespan of a wind turbine is expected to increase as well.
