Wind

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 * Energy Source: Wind**

What is it?
media type="file" key="wind1.mp3" width="240" height="20" The wind is always blowing across the Earth. If you have ever watched a strong wind, you have seen how it can blow leaves, branches, and even people around! For thousands of years, people have been using the power of the wind for energy. Wind is a **renewable resource**, so we should be able to use it for energy for a very long time.



How does it work?
media type="file" key="wind2.mp3" width="240" height="20" Have you ever seen a **windmill** before? If you have, then you have seen wind energy in action. When the wind blows, it pushes the blades on the windmill in circles. As the blades rotate, their movement creates energy!

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For windmills to work well, they need to be built in a place that gets a lot of steady wind. In places like California, where there is a lot of wind energy, people have built wind farms like this one on the left. A **wind farm** is a group of windmills together in one place. Sometimes these windmills are as tall as a 10-story building! You can imagine how large the windmill will be when these giant blades in the picture on the right are attached!

How is it used today?
media type="file" key="wind3.mp3" width="240" height="20" Today, most windmills are used to make electricity. To do this, the windmill must be connected to a generator. A generator is a machine that takes energy from motion (like the rotating blades on the windmill) and turns it into electricity.

What are the advantages?
media type="file" key="wind4.mp3" width="240" height="20" One of the biggest advantages of wind energy is that it is a clean energy – this means that it does not pollute the environment! Also, since wind is a renewable resource, we are not in danger of running out of it. The wind will blow as long as the sun is shining. Fossil fuels, on the other hand, might run out within a few hundred years!

What are the disadvantages?
media type="file" key="wind5.mp3" width="240" height="20" Windmills are very loud, and some people believe that they are ugly. Scientists also worry that many birds die in the windmills. The biggest problem with wind energy, though, is that you always need to have a backup. If the wind isn’t blowing, there is no wind energy!

Is there a solution for using wind power in the future?
media type="file" key="wind6.mp3" width="240" height="20" What do you think? Should we use wind power more or less than we do now? What will we need to do to make your solution work?

Bibliography

© 2008 E. Crispino