Renewable Energy from Wind

By J.C. Dyess

With the economic crisis looming on the horizon and more and more people becoming wary about our dependence on foreign oil, it only makes sense to start looking at alternative energy sources like wind power. The United States has the world's greatest wind power corridor, and because of this, this means that we have access to impressive reserves of clean natural gas.

Wind power involves the use of turbines to convert wind energy into electrical energy; this simple idea has been emerging as an increasingly large part of the energy supply for many countries, especially in Europe. Spain and Portugal get about 11% of their electrical energy from wind power, while Denmark uses this alternative energy to meet a whopping 19% of its energy needs!

People tend to think of enormous commercial scale wind farms when they think of wind power. While there are certainly plenty of these, there is a growing number of homeowners implementing wind power technologies for themselves to supply their homes " and some are even managing to generate enough electricity to sell some back to their utility companies.

A clean, inexhaustible source of energy, wind power needs only steady winds to work; making it more desirable than non-renewable, pollution causing fossil fuels. In areas where steady wind cannot be counted on, backup energy sources may not be needed, but the savings produced by the wind power generators more than offsets this expense.

So if youre considering starting your own wind farm, where do you start? Its actually a lot simpler than you may suppose. You will need a location which has winds which are consistently 15-25 mph in order to have a wind farm which will produce a lot of energy. The higher up you can get your turbines, the more wind youll have and the more energy youll be able to generate.

You may be surprised to find that people who are looking to make a go of the wind farm industry are heading en masse to Texas. Texas is leading the nation in terms of wind power capacity and production, and as a state, it has long believed that the future of the off shore wind industry is off of the Texas Gulf Coast.

On a smaller scale, it is worth noting that Texas farmers can lease out land to wind developers, They can charge a fee for each turbine rented or for a small percentage of the gross annual income from the project. Not only is this pumping life into an economy that sorely needs it, it is also providing more clean energy with a negligible effect on traditional farming and grazing practices.

Where do you stand when it comes to the debate on wind power? There are many people who are interested in seeing where wind power can take us, and its future in America is quite bright. Take some time to consider what your options are going to be as you look at the possibilities of a wind farm.

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