Wind Power in the Near Future Essay -- Energy Mechanics Essays

Wind Power in the Near Future Today many people are anxious about energy for the future, as it seems realistic that petroleum energy will someday run out and since some environmental problems caused by petroleum use are getting worse. As alternatives to today’s main energy source, oil, some others have been proposed already, such as solar, water, biomass, and nuclear. Wind Power is the one of the ways that has the biggest potential and is the most practical. And it is predicted to play an important role in electrical generation for the new era. But to think wind power will be the dominant energy source can be too optimistic. How will wind power be used? To what extent will wind power take the place of petroleum? We can find the answers in some recently published articles. The article â€Å"Wind Farm to be Established in the Netherlands,† refers to the case of BA and Chevron Texaco, the major petroleum companies, which are constructing a wind farm near Rotterdam. The article reports that this wind farm will generate the low emission electricity for 20,000 households and help the stability of the electricity market. And in the article â€Å"Power into the Future,† Ken Eastwood reports on the position of wind power in Australia. Until now mainly coal has been used in Australia, but in 2001, the federal government of Australia announced that within 10 years an extra 2 per cent of the country’s power must be produced by renewable sources, in order to reduce global warming. Eastwood said the electric generating system would shift from a small amount of huge generators to smaller but widely distributed ones. Wind power can be produced locally on a small scale. One example from Ravenshoe, a small town in northeast Australia, is shown. There... ...leum based energy, but up to a single digit percent of total. It seems that the use of wind power will be limited in both it’s amount and location. And most likely, it will be used in combination with other methods. Works Cited American Wind Energy Association. â€Å"Wind Energy: An Untapped Resource.† Ken Eastwood. â€Å"Power into the Future.† Australian Geographic, Jul-Sep 2002, Issue 67. Harris Cassius A. â€Å"Wind Farm to be Established in the Netherlands.† Civil Engineering, Mar 2002, Vol. 72, Issue 3. Walt Patterson. â€Å"Pioneered the Concept of Distributed Micropower Generation.† Scientific American, Dec 2004, Vol. 291, Issue 6. Joe Provey. â€Å"Off the Grid.† Popular Mechanics, Mar 2005, Vol. 182, Issue 3. Peter Schwartz and Reiss Spencer. â€Å"Nuclear Now.† Wired, Feb 2005, p 78~83. â€Å"Wind Turbines Taking Toll on Birds of Prey.† USA Today, Jan 05, 2005. Wind Power in the Near Future Essay -- Energy Mechanics Essays Wind Power in the Near Future Today many people are anxious about energy for the future, as it seems realistic that petroleum energy will someday run out and since some environmental problems caused by petroleum use are getting worse. As alternatives to today’s main energy source, oil, some others have been proposed already, such as solar, water, biomass, and nuclear. Wind Power is the one of the ways that has the biggest potential and is the most practical. And it is predicted to play an important role in electrical generation for the new era. But to think wind power will be the dominant energy source can be too optimistic. How will wind power be used? To what extent will wind power take the place of petroleum? We can find the answers in some recently published articles. The article â€Å"Wind Farm to be Established in the Netherlands,† refers to the case of BA and Chevron Texaco, the major petroleum companies, which are constructing a wind farm near Rotterdam. The article reports that this wind farm will generate the low emission electricity for 20,000 households and help the stability of the electricity market. And in the article â€Å"Power into the Future,† Ken Eastwood reports on the position of wind power in Australia. Until now mainly coal has been used in Australia, but in 2001, the federal government of Australia announced that within 10 years an extra 2 per cent of the country’s power must be produced by renewable sources, in order to reduce global warming. Eastwood said the electric generating system would shift from a small amount of huge generators to smaller but widely distributed ones. Wind power can be produced locally on a small scale. One example from Ravenshoe, a small town in northeast Australia, is shown. There... ...leum based energy, but up to a single digit percent of total. It seems that the use of wind power will be limited in both it’s amount and location. And most likely, it will be used in combination with other methods. Works Cited American Wind Energy Association. â€Å"Wind Energy: An Untapped Resource.† Ken Eastwood. â€Å"Power into the Future.† Australian Geographic, Jul-Sep 2002, Issue 67. Harris Cassius A. â€Å"Wind Farm to be Established in the Netherlands.† Civil Engineering, Mar 2002, Vol. 72, Issue 3. Walt Patterson. â€Å"Pioneered the Concept of Distributed Micropower Generation.† Scientific American, Dec 2004, Vol. 291, Issue 6. Joe Provey. â€Å"Off the Grid.† Popular Mechanics, Mar 2005, Vol. 182, Issue 3. Peter Schwartz and Reiss Spencer. â€Å"Nuclear Now.† Wired, Feb 2005, p 78~83. â€Å"Wind Turbines Taking Toll on Birds of Prey.† USA Today, Jan 05, 2005.