Wind Power: Renewable Energy And Wind Energy

Wind is caused by the uneven heating of the sun, and has been an energy source for a while now. So basically if the sun shines and still exists, wind will always exist as well, whether it is on planet Neptune or here on Earth. It is a renewable energy resource, meaning that it will always be here on Earth, so it doesn’t run out. This gives it a great advantage over fossil fuels, not to mention that fossil fuels harm the Earth in several ways.

A lot of the wind energy today derives from turbines. We use wind power and wind turbines to harness electricity for us to use. The way that we get electricity through wind power is that when the wind blows by, the blades in the turbines turn, which then turn a shaft that is connected to a special generator, which then creates electricity. This is a great example of how some wind turbines are designed specifically to create electricity. There size also helps their purpose, with some being up to 200 feet tall!

Wind turbines used to create the electricity needed turn the kinetic energy from the wind into mechanical power, which is where the name “Wind Power” comes from. In addition, wind turbines can also be used for several reasons, but the generator in the wind turbine is what turns the mechanical power into electricity that we can use.

Besides wind power, another alternative energy resource is hydroelectric power. Hydroelectric power is electricity produced by the kinetic energy of water moving over a waterfall or a dam. To put it in simpler terms, it is electricity produced by flowing water. Water, just like wind, has been used as an energy source for a while now. That been said, an advantage of hydropower is that water is a renewable resource, due to the water cycle. This means that, ...

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... in the U.S, so how much it is used varies greatly depending on the area.

In nuclear power, you have nuclear power-plants, sort of how in wind power you have wind turbines. Well these nuclear power-plants work through a process called nuclear fission. In nuclear fission, an atoms nucleus is split into 2 nuclei. In turn, heat is released. So the heat produced in nuclear power-plants is released from fission reactions. This heat is used to turn water into steam. This steam then turns and spins the blades of a turbine to generate electricity. This is how electricity is produced through nuclear power!

But as good as nuclear power sounds, in the end it still has some risks. It has its pro’s and con’s. An accident in a nuclear power-plant can be incredibly deadly and dangerous, and a safe way to store radioactive waste for thousands of years still needs to be found.