Wind Power

Advantages of Wind Power

The Advantages of Wind Power:  US has plentiful supply  Falling costs  Inexpensive to set up  Farmers earn income  Non-polluting

The Advantages of Wind Power: US has natural advantage 1)Studies suggest that with today’s wind technology, we could convert North and South Dakota to wind farms, and generate all electricity used in USA today.

The Advantages of Wind Power: Falling costs 1)Twenty years of work has produced falling costs. 2)Wind is now competitive with other energy sources.

The Advantages of Wind Power: Low start up costs 3)Very inexpensive to set up, and there are low maintenance costs. 4)Currently, more than 20 Iowa schools have a turbine that generates enough electricity to power the air conditioners, or the heat, or both.

The Advantages of Wind Power: Farm Income 5)Farmers can now earn up to $4000 per year in the Midwest, depending on location, by selling the energy to the local utilities.

The Advantages of Wind Power: No pollution 6)Wind power doesn’t generate any pollution.

Disadvantages of Wind Power

The Disadvantages of Wind Power:  Unreliability  Mismatch between demand & supply  Ugly & sprawling  Storage problems

The Disadvantages of Wind Power: Unreliability 1)Wind doesn’t always blow. Even in the Dakotas, let alone the rest of the country.

The Disadvantages of Wind Power: Mismatch Between Demand & Supply 2)Wind always blows, but not necessarily where the energy consumers are. We have plenty of wind in the Great Plains, but not on the coasts, or much of the South.

The Disadvantages of Wind Power: Ugly & Sprawling 3)Wind farms don’t pollute, but they aren’t pretty: nobody wants them. 4)Use up a lot of land space

The Disadvantages of Wind Power: Storage Issues 5)When the wind blows, there isn’t any way to store the excess energy produced. This is THE problem with wind power.

Bottom Line Wind turbines are no longer the energy of the future. The technology works today. We can expand this type of energy, which will help with all issues. Funding energy storage is the key to much greater future development.