Wind Energy Facts – Introduction
This site is a great resource on wind energy and will be able to provide you with an incredible amount of wind energy facts and resources. Check our recent blog posts for updates relating to wind energy in the news and current events relating to wind energy and browse our pages to learn more about wind power and how it can effect you. If you are considering building wind turbine or if you need to do research for school or work, I hope you can find everything you need right here! Before we get started let’s take a look at a quick 2 minute video.
Wind Energy Facts – History
The earliest form of wind power was quite a novel concept! In fact, this type of wind power was available as early as 1000 B.C. and is still in use today. Can you guess what it is? Sailboats! This may not be what you think of when the subject of wind power is brought up, but it is the very first form of wind power!
Wind power took a major technological leap somewhere shortly after 500 A.D. when the Persians began using it to pump water. This design was likely similar to the panemone design that we have current written records of.
A study of historical wind energy facts show us that windmills began showing up in Europe some time around 1300 A.D. These windmills are the more traditional “water wheel” design with a horizontal axis (as opposed to the vertical axis design of the panemone).
An example of the Persian Panemone Windmill Design
As you can see, windmills have been in use for many centuries. The modern windmill has changed in many ways, but some of the ancient designs are still heavily used. Smaller windmills can be used for providing an alternative energy source for modern families looking to help the environment or for trailblazers who are attempted to live off grid.
According to wind energy facts provided by the US Department of Energy, there has been major movements toward increasing the amount of power that is produced by wind. In the State of Texas there are many wind farms that span throughout the State. Much of the wind power provided by these wind farms comes from giant wind turbines that can be as tall as 20 stories high! Because wind energy is reliant on an uncontrollable medium (namely, the wind!) it should be viewed as a complementary wind method and not as a primary source of energy.
Currently the cost of building wind farms and adding their energy to the grid is high in comparison to traditional methods. For this reason the government has spent millions of dollars to subsidize the windmill industry. Despite the fact that wind energy is a clean form of renewable energy, it is not a perfect solution. Learn more about the pros and cons of wind energy.
Be sure to browse our large database of wind energy information:
- wind power pros and cons
- how do wind turbines work?
- homemade wind turbine
- how does wind energy work?
- Wind turbine cost