Wind Power: A Basic Idea

In my earlier article I have discussed about various renewable energies. Today I will discuss one of such energy. WIND POWER.

The term “wind power” refers to the process by which the wind is being used to prepare the electricity. It is another example of a renewable energy and a substitute to fossil fuel. In this process the power of wind is harvested by the turbines and it generates electricity.

The wind caused by the heat of the sun, earth rotation and different heat absorption on the surface of the earth. The flow of wind is also not same in every place. It is modified with the presence of empty lands, sea surfaces and presence of forests and other vegetative bodies. So the logic of generating more electricity from the wind is to set up the wind turbines in the places where the speed of wind is highest.

A wind turbine is an opposite of a fan. In a fan the electric energy gets converted into mechanical energy and fan rotates. Whereas in turbines, the mechanical energy of the wind gets converted into the electric energy. Depending on the axis of motion the turbine can be of two types: horizontal axis and vertical axis turbines. Most of the turbines operating today are on the horizontal axis.

 

A wind turbine basically has 4 parts:

Blades(it rotates when wind flow hit it)

A drive train (includes a gear box and a generator)

Tower for support

And other equipments like electric cables, ground supporting equipments etc.

The size of the turbines varies according to the requirement of energy generation. The largest wind turbine has blades with a span of the size of a football field and produce energy to supply 1400 houses.

Wind energy has several benefits:

1. It is free renewable source. So you will never ever run out of the energy.
2. It is clean, non polluting source and in harmony with nature.
3. Unlike solar you can get energy in night and cloudy days also.
4. It also provide tax benefits in several countries.

As per other side of the story:

1. Lightning causes damages to turbines.
2. You can not expect the same amount of wind everyday.
3. Migratory birds often get killed by flying into the running blades.
4. Not every place is suitable for setting up wind turbine as the flow of wind is not uniform in every place.
5. Cost of the set up is also very expensive compared to solar power.

Never the less like all other renewable energies the wind power is also booming. Germany has the most installed wind turbines in the world followed by Spain, The USA, India and Denmark. It has been estimated that by 2050 one third of the worlds total energy will be in the form of wind power.

Are you also interested in renewable energies? Share your thoughts here.

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Walking: A great Habit To Have

In my earlier article I have discussed about bicycle riding. Now in this blog we will go one step more closer to nature. Walking is not only beneficial for nature it has tremendous benefits for a person. In day to day life we can definitely choose to walk a few mile where we generally use vehicle such as bikes or cars specially for a shorter distances.

I have already discussed and many of you are already aware of the different harmful effect the fossil fuel has in the environment. If we can reduce at least 3-5 miles of our daily vehicle travel by walking it will create a larger impact when we think it as a whole.

We can best practice the walk at the time of morning. Let us look at some of the benefits a morning walk can provide:

During morning the air is in the purest form. While walking the fresh air rejuvenates the body and the brain(some believe to be the soul).

Morning walk helps in balancing the sugar level of the body and thus helps in reducing the impact of type 2 diabetes.

Improves your concentration.

Great exercise for reducing or eliminating the back pain problem.

It increases blood circulation, muscular development and metabolism of the body. It reduces the chances of heart attack and stroke.

By reducing the fat deposition in the blood vessels, it maintains the optimum blood pressure of the body.

For a person recovering from cancer, A morning walk everyday can helps in fast recovery.

The view of the sunrise is particularly very exciting to eyes. So if you never have experienced a early morning sunrise I highly recommend give it a try.

This is perhaps one of the most neglected exercise. People do various hard and tedious exercise to keep themselves fit. Simple walking for 30 minutes a day can solve many of your joint pains and keep the muscles healthy.

Do not eat heavy before going for a walk. A glass of fruit juice would be more than enough.

The aim of walking is to relax your body and mind. In case you are a evening walker and not a morning walker, avoid the busy roads. Choose a path which is surrounded by green and clean environment. Otherwise you will inhale more carbon Di-Oxide than oxygen, which will harm your body.

Are you a walker? What benefit you got from walking? Share your views for the benefit of all. 

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Geothermal Energy: A Basic Idea

After solar energy basics now take a little time to make yourself aware about the geothermal energy system. It is also a renewable energy source i.e, it is clean, it is generated without the use of fossil fuels and it can be replenished.

As the name suggests geothermal means heat from The Earth. Various sources of the geothermal energies are used depending on the scale of usage. It is clean and renewable source of energy. This is considered renewable because the solar energy, the heat in side the earth practically limitless and expected to remain so for billion of years.

As we all know the center of the earth is very hot compared to the surface. The heat from the core of the earth is continuously flowing upwards. It sometime brings lava and magma along with it. But most of the time the heat is remained inside and as a result the rocks and water which is inside is become very much heated. This temperature at times can reach about 700F. due to the immense pressure at tis temperature also the water remains in liquid form. This hot water layer trapped inside the earth is called geothermal water reservoir.

Now this geothermal water reservoir are used to produce energy in different forms. It can be used to generate electricity, to warm up industrial, commercial and residential buildings.

To bring the water to the surface, wells are drilled to the reservoirs. This very hot water then taken to a geothermal power plant and the heat is converted to the electricity. It can also used without involving the power plant. This type of use of geothermal energy was practiced way back in ancient roman times. It includes space heating, bathing, food preparation, uses in green houses etc.

We have seen animals burrow underground for warmth in the winter and also during extreme heat in summer. This same principle is used in Geothermal heating pumps. It provide heating to the building in winter and takes out extra heat from the building and deposit it to the earth during the hot summer. As these system draw heat from the ground they are much more energy efficient than any traditional heating system. It can reduce the energy consumption of the traditional heating and cooling system by 30 -50%.

The variety of the resources allows them to use in different scales from heating a single house to generating electricity for a industrial complex.

Hope you have a better idea on geothermal energy after reading this article. Would like to hear your voices on this.

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Solar Energy: A basic Idea

My earlier blog have some idea on the different renewable energies. This will focus little bit on the Solar energy.

The word Solar is Latin and it means Sun.so the solar energy refers to the various way we can generate our usable energy from the Sun.

It is measured by scientists that the amount of energy which our planet receives in one hour is equivalent to the energy what we all use in an year. So you can have an idea the amount of energy we are blessed with through Sun. Solar energy uses this energy source to make it in the usable format like electricity or thermal energy. Following are two of the technologies that converts solar power to usable energies:

Concentrating Solar Power:

Most of the power plants uses fossil fuel be it petroleum oil or coal to produce electricity. They heat the water by those fuels and steam is used to spin the turbine and thus release electricity. With solar power technology the heat from the sun is concentrated to boil the water and thus omits the use of fossil fuel. Only downside is that it requires to focus the lenses to the sun and thus the uses of this type of solar power can be limited to the sunniest parts of the globe only.

Photo-Voltaic Cells:

Another technique is the use of photo-voltaic cells to produce electricity from the sun light. It was first discovered by scientists in 1954 that silicon generates some electric charge when exposed to sun light. Initially solar cells are used to power space satellites, calculators and watches but in later stages the uses of solar cell have increased very widely. Solar panel which consists of many solar cells are used power the houses. In an average 10 to 20 such panels are enough the power the house.

Once the sun light falls upon solar cells it convert the light (not heat) to the direct current(DC). These cells can even perform on the cloudy days also. But more the intensity of the light more current will be generated. These DC then taken to an inverter which converts it to AC(alternative current) and then you can use it like normal electricity.

Initially these are created only from silicon but now a days they are prepared from silicon as well as non silicon materials. On the downside, this photo-voltaic cells are expensive to start with. But if you consider the total use span it usually evens out.

There are other technology also which uses the heat of the sun and provide hot water to the houses and businesses. There is also a process called solar process heat, which uses solar energy to heat or cool the commercial and industrial buildings.

What do you think about solar energy? Are you a part of it? Share your thoughts.

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Renewable Energy: A Step Closer To Nature

We talk repeatedly about saving the environment, reducing the carbon footprint and Global warming, but the main source of pollution comes when we use the energy from fossil fuel. It is like a double edged sword where you can not progress economically or sociologically with out the use of energy and by doing so we are constantly affecting out environment and our planet our home. The renewable energy concept is an revolution which plans to solve this dilemma.

Renewable energy is a form of alternative energy i.e, the energy which doesn’t come from the fossil fuel. Unlike other alternative energies this type of energies don’t have a finite source. The following are some of the most popular types of renewable energies which are prevalent in today's environment.

1. Solar energy: It is basically the process of converting the energy of the sun light into electricity or thermal energy to use it for the purpose of domestic as well as industrial uses. It does not emit any poisonous gas like fossil fuel so this is pollution free. The best part of the solar energy is that the source of energy is will last for billion of years and there is no chance of running out of energy. The system uses photovoltaic cells to trap the energy from the sun.
2. Wind energy: It is the process of using the power of the wind to generate electricity. By installing windmills and the turbine inside it, the energy of the wind is converted into electricity. As the the amount of energy depends on the speed of the wind, the key is to place the wind mills into such places where the wind blowing is the strongest. There is one definite benefit of using wind power with compared to Solar power is unlike solar power you can get the energy from the wind mill 24/7 and not only in the day time.
3. Geo-thermal energy: It is using the natural source of heat which is inside the earth to produce energy forms like electricity or thermal power. It uses the streams or hot water from underground. It is also a form of energy which doesn’t emit any green house gas. The best part of Geo-thermal energy is that it is one of the most cheapest form of energy source. It is around 70% cheaper than traditional sources of energy.
4. Hydro energy: Water is the most common source of alternative energy to fossil fuel. Using the power of the flow of streams and waterfalls the turbine is moved and produce energy. Though it is a clean source of energy i.e, it don’t emit any green house gas, unnatural blocking of water flow results in disturbing the natural habitat of several fishes and other aquatic animals.

Although the renewable energy industry is at this point of time is in infant stage, the scope of growth is enormous. This use of fossil fuel is not going to sustain for much longer period of time as it is assumed that the stored fossil fuel can last for 50 years or less. Many government are providing much needed encouragement and support for the research of energy sources which can sustain the growth much longer.

Want to know from you what is your view about renewable energy. Have any suggestion? Please feel free to mention it.

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