Wind Power: The Cheap, Effective and Reliable Energy Source

Wind Power: The Cheap, Effective and Reliable Energy Source

In 1996, the Moores were faced with a disturbing problem. A nearby mine owned by Arch Coal had removed the top of a mountain near the town of Blair to access the coal seam beneath. Most residents chose to move out to avoid the "blast rock," or chunks of rock that came raining down after the massive blasts, and the thick chocking dust that filled the town. The Moores, however, stayed. According to Victoria Moore, the conditions were atrocious. The thick dust upset their son's asthma, and the sound of explosions constantly shook the town. "If you were inside, it interrupted your life. If you were outside, it interrupted your life," said Victoria. "...I couldn't sit on my porch without getting dust on me, I couldn't even walk in my grass. I couldn't get in my car. I couldn't even let my kids go out and play." Finally even the Moores were forced to move out (Buying Blair). This Logan County coal mine is one of hundreds across the United States. The majority of the coal from these mines goes to run coal-fired power plants that provide electricity to homes across America. The sad part of this story really is that it did not need to happen. Now, with massive advancements in wind energy, coal has become largely outdated and ineffective. Instead of removing the top of the mountain near Blair, a wind farm could have been built.

Electricity produced from new wind farms is more economical in dollar terms than electricity produced by new coal-fired power plants. And, if the detrimental environmental side effects and costs of burning coal are factored in, wind power looks even better.

Wind power has been around since early civilization. It possibly preceded the use of animals to grind grain, and was invented either in China or Persia. Historians speculate that the windmill technology was then moved to Europe during the crusades. The Dutch were the first major industrial users of windmills. They used them to pump sea water out of the hand made dikes to increase land area. Until the invention of electricity, windmills were mostly used for pumping and grinding grain (Berry).

In the US, as electricity became widely used, many people still living too far away from the power lines attempted to use their water pumping windmills to run generators. This failed because the pumping wind mills were used for high torque, low speed applications, which was the opposite of what the electric generators required.