for Teachers for Schools for Enterprise
for Teachers for Schools for Enterprise
Course Navigator
Hydropower: Pros and ConsNext Lesson 

Wind Energy: Pros and Cons

Chapter 13 /  Lesson 5   Transcript
Try it risk-free for 30 days

An error occurred trying to load this video.

Try refreshing the page, or contact customer support.

Coming up next: Hydropower: Pros and Cons

You're on a roll. Keep up the good work!

Take Quiz Watch Next Lesson
 Replay
Your next lesson will play in 10 seconds
  • 0:06 Wind
  • 1:15 Wind Energy
  • 3:18 Pros of Wind Energy
  • 4:27 Cons of Wind Energy
  • 6:03 Lesson Summary
Add to Add to Add to

Want to watch this again later?

Log in or sign up to add this lesson to a Custom Course.

Login or Sign up

Timeline
Autoplay
Autoplay
Speed

Recommended Lessons and Courses for You

Lesson Transcript
Instructor: Rebecca Gillaspy

Dr. Gillaspy has taught health science at University of Phoenix and Ashford University and has a degree from Palmer College of Chiropractic.

Wind energy is a renewable form of energy that involves harnessing the natural energy of the wind. Learn how wind is used to generate electricity and the pros and cons of this energy source.

Wind

Wind is something we have all experienced. Wind can drift in as a gentle summer breeze, or storm in as a powerful force capable of leaving destruction in its path. But did you ever wonder what causes the wind to blow? Wind actually gets its start from the sun. When the sun shines down on the earth, the surface of the earth is heated.

Because the earth's surface is made up of different formations, including land and water, the sun heats the earth unevenly. As the different surfaces heat up, the hot air rises and cooler air comes in to fill the void. This explains why it's so windy at the beach. The air above the land heats up faster than the air above the water. So, when the hot air above the land rises, the cooler air from the water rushes ashore.

With the right technology, we are able to harness the energy of the wind and convert it into electricity. In this lesson, we will explore how wind is captured and take a look at the pros and cons of this energy source.

Wind Energy

Energy is the ability to do work, and we learned that wind is moving air created by the heat of the sun. Wind energy can be simply defined as energy from the wind that can do work and create electricity.

When we talk about energy created by movement of the wind, we are talking about kinetic energy. You can recall this term by remembering that the word 'kinetic' originates from the Greek language and means 'to move.' In order to utilize the kinetic energy of the wind for electricity production, we need a way to harness its power. To do this, we use wind turbines.

Wind turbines are machines with rotors and blades that convert the kinetic energy of the wind into mechanical energy, which is then converted to electricity. The word 'turbine' comes from the Latin language and means 'something that spins.' So you can think of a wind turbine as something that spins in the wind to generate electricity. The mechanical energy produced from the spinning blades of the turbine is transferred to a generator that converts the mechanical energy into electricity.

It might help to think of a wind turbine as the opposite of a fan. A fan plugs into your wall and uses electricity to spin its blades and make wind. A wind turbine works in reverse. It uses the wind to spin its blades to generate electricity.

Wind turbines can work alone, but they are often found together on wind farms, which are areas of land that contain large groupings of wind turbines. The individual wind turbines within a wind farm work together for increased electricity production. Because wind speeds are often higher over water, there are some wind farms built in bodies of water. These wind farms are referred to as offshore wind farms. Offshore wind farms can increase energy production, but are often more expensive to construct than wind farms on land.

Pros of Wind Energy

There are a number of pros to wind energy. Wind energy is renewable energy. This means that as long as the sun continues to shine, we will have wind to generate electricity. Wind energy is also clean and green. Currently, developed countries gain most of their electricity and energy needs from fossil fuels, like oil, coal and natural gas. However, burning fossil fuels creates greenhouse gases that are thought to contribute to global climate change. With wind energy, there is no greenhouse gas production during operation.

Speaking of operating wind turbines, we see that wind energy comes with low operating costs. After the wind turbine is built and set in place, the power generated is essentially produced at no cost. We also see that wind energy has a tremendous potential to become a leading energy source. This is thanks to the fact that it is highly abundant, and wind energy can work anywhere the wind speeds are sufficient, which is typically best over 10 miles per hour.

To unlock this lesson you must be a Study.com Member.
Create your account

Register to view this lesson

Are you a student or a teacher?

Unlock Your Education

See for yourself why 30 million people use Study.com

Become a Study.com member and start learning now.
Become a Member  Back
What teachers are saying about Study.com
Try it risk-free for 30 days
Description

Earning College Credit

Did you know… We have over 160 college courses that prepare you to earn credit by exam that is accepted by over 1,500 colleges and universities. You can test out of the first two years of college and save thousands off your degree. Anyone can earn credit-by-exam regardless of age or education level.

To learn more, visit our Earning Credit Page

Transferring credit to the school of your choice

Not sure what college you want to attend yet? Study.com has thousands of articles about every imaginable degree, area of study and career path that can help you find the school that's right for you.

Research Schools, Degrees & Careers

Get the unbiased info you need to find the right school.

Browse Articles By Category

Browse an area of study or degree level.

Recommended Articles
You are viewing lesson Lesson 5 in chapter 13 of the course:

 Back To Course

Geography 101: Human & Cultural Geography

16 chapters | 151 lessons | 11 flashcard sets

Ch 13. Renewable Resources
Ch 14. Nonrenewable Resources

Wind Energy: Pros and Cons Related Study Materials

Create an account to start this course today
Try it risk-free for 30 days!
Create An Account

Explore our library of over 75,000 lessons

Browse by subject
Support