Wind Power By: Danforth Holley Kendal Effinger & Daisy Bledsoe-Herring

Uses of Wind Power  Primarily electricity Heats, lights, and cools homes Runs cars, appliances, and the technology of the future  Also mechanical energy Grind grain, pump water

How do windmills work?  Wind spins the rotor blades  Which turns a gearbox  Attached to an electrical generator  Which creates electrical energy  Which is then distributed through power cables

WHAT WOULD WIND REPLACE?  Non Renewable Fossil Fuels Mainly coal Natural Gas Coal Plants (“NY Times”) (Miller Textbook)

Advantages Over Coal  High Efficiency  Low Environmental Impact  Would lower electricity costs  Quick construction (Miller Textbook) (“Scruffy Dan Blog”)

More Advantages…  Clean No air pollution No CO 2 Emission  reduced by 99% when wind replaces coal  reduced by 98% when wind replaces natural gas  Abundant  Reliable  Affordable  Safe (“Yes2Wind”) (“Renewable Energy Sources”)

Wind Power in the USA  Wind farms generate electricity in 28 states.  Most wind production in: Texas, California, Iowa, Minnesota, and Oklahoma.  Areas with most potential: Midwest US  “Saudi Arabia of Wind” (“Miller Text”) Dakotas/Texas  Most turbines in California (“AWEA”) (“Wind Action”)

A Case Study: Stateline Wind Energy Project  Location Vansycle Ridge- boarder between Washington & Oregon  399 Turbines  Wind comes from Columbia Ridge mph average  Capacity:  Produces enough energy for 26,500 Homes (“Wind Energy: The Facts”) (“BPA.GOV”)

A Case Study: Stateline Wind Energy Project PROS  Helps local/national econ  Eliminates need for some fossil fuel plants  Environmental Review shows that impact is low  Low land use  Technology to protect environment/safety (“Wikipedia”) (“RNP”)

A Case Study: Stateline Wind Energy Project CONS  Very few cons  Inevitably some birds will be effected  Areas were temporarily disturbed during construction  Some roads must be built to access facilities=habitat destruction (“Wikipedia”) (“BPA”)

 Becoming Mainstream Increased 50% US overtook Germany in 2008  Variability relies on the wind to blow Not completely reliable  Low startup and maintenance costs  Barriers: Current coal-powered plants Industries based on these Mainstreaming Wind Power

Infrastructure  Wind Turbines  Sites to place turbines High wind, land use, value of energy, etc.  Transmission line availability

State of State Address  Reduce reliance on coal- burning power plants by 45% Solar and wind energy  Wind Turbines in the Great Lakes  Use money saved from importing coal to build wind turbines  Manufacture parts in Michigan—creating jobs

Denmark  Denmark gets 19% of their electricity from windmills.  Near Copenhagen, Denmark has the world’s largest off shore wind farm.

Sources  American Wind Energy Association. 05 Feb  "Review of the major Wind Power Turbine Manufacturers - Part 2 |." Renewable Energy Sources. 05 Feb energy-sources.com/2008/04/14/review-of-the-major-wind-power- turbine-manufacturers-part-2/. energy-sources.com/2008/04/14/review-of-the-major-wind-power- turbine-manufacturers-part-2/  "Wind Energy." Energy Information Administration - EIA - Official Energy Statistics from the U.S. Government. 05 Feb  " | Horse Hollow Wind Plant." | Welcome. 05 Feb  YES 2 Wind. 05 Feb energy-news.info/technology/wind-power  YES2WIND: How to say yes to wind energy in your area. 05 Feb