Wind Turbines To Cut Energy Bills

The installation of renewable energy technologies such as; wind turbines, solar panels, and even geothermal systems can all save money on your energy bills.The initial investment of these technologies can be quite high, yet they can be capable of paying for themselves within a matter of years.You can pick up a cheap, low efficiency wind turbine for as little as £200 to £400, depending on how much power you wish to generate.We suggest taking a look at the wind turbine suppliers section of our website. This can be a simplified way for you to locate a wind energy system supplier and/or installer in your location.Be sure to research and read about the many advantages and disadvantages of wind energy relating to home and commercial wind turbine developments.You may wish to take a look at our page covering the topic of how wind turbines work, in order to gain a basic understanding of this process.

Advantages & Disadvantages Of Wind Energy

There are a range of advantages and disadvantages of wind energy to look at, including the many problems associated with wind turbines.In this day and age, the world needs to look at the different natural energy sources available to us. Global warming could be due our energy craving lifestyle, so we should look into more environmentally friendly energy sources.

Advantages

• Wind energy is friendly to the surrounding environment, as no fossil fuels are burnt to generate electricity from wind energy.

• Wind turbines take up less space than the average power station. Windmills only have to occupy a few square meters for the base, this allows the land around the turbine to be used for many purposes, for example agriculture.

• Newer technologies are making the extraction of wind energy much more efficient. The wind is free, and we are able to cash in on this free source of energy.

• Wind turbines are a great resource to generate energy in remote locations, such as mountain communities and remote countryside. Wind turbines can be a range of different sizes in order to support varying population levels.

• Another advantage of wind energy is that when combined with solar electricity, this energy source is great for developed and developing countries to provide a steady, reliable supply of electricity.

Disadvantages:

• The main disadvantage regarding wind power is down to the winds unreliability factor. In many areas, the winds strength is too low to support a wind turbine or wind farm, and this is where the use of solar power or geothermal power could be great alternatives.

• Wind turbines generally produce allot less electricity than the average fossil fuelled power station, requiring multiple wind turbines to be built in order to make an impact.

• Wind turbine construction can be very expensive and costly to surrounding wildlife during the build process.

• The noise pollution from commercial wind turbines is sometimes similar to a small jet engine. This is fine if you live miles away, where you will hardly notice the noise, but what if you live within a few hundred meters of a turbine? This is a major disadvantage.

• Protests and/or petitions usually confront any proposed wind farm development. People feel the countryside should be left in tact for everyone to enjoy it's beauty.

How Do Wind Turbines Work

This article covers the topic of how wind turbines work, in order to provide a basic understanding on the process of electricity production from the wind.Firstly, it is important to understand the design of the two main types of wind turbines available today.It is significant to ask this question as the two main types of wind turbines are horizontal and vertical, and these designs use the wind in slightly different ways regarding the wind energy harnessing process.Horizontal wind turbines are the more common design, and use angled propeller type blades to create friction when facing the wind, resulting in the spinning motion.The vertical turbine design uses the wind to spin on a centre point on the ground, resulting in the whole construction spinning round.The process of electricity production is significantly similar in both designs. The construction only makes a difference in the position and design of the blades which are used to create friction with the wind.A good way of thinking about the basics of wind power is by comparing a wind turbine to an electric fan.

An electric fan uses electricity to create the blowing motion (which is your wind), and a wind turbine works in the opposite direction, using wind energy to blow the blades, which are attached to a generator, creating the electricity.So when the wind turbines blades are spinning, what happens next? Well the blades are attached to a long shaft (in horizontal wind turbines, pictured above). Inside the long neck of the wind turbine design, the shaft begins to turn which is connected to a generator, and this generates the electricity.So there is the basic understanding of how wind turbines work. Wind power generation is a fairly simple process, and some people have had great success in building a home wind turbine from scratch.Wind power is seen as a very good source of renewable electricity, yet many people still prefer the convenience, and reliability of solar panels, when choosing a renewable energy source for their home.

Vertical Axis Wind Turbines Design

Today, we only tend to use one of the two main construction and design methods for vertical axis wind turbines.The vertical axis turbines generate wind power using the same method as horizontal wind turbines, only through a different design.When we think of wind turbines, we tend to see an image of the turbines pictured below, yet for a long time, there has been an alternative design to this kind of wind turbine.The majority of wind turbines across the U.K are of the horizontal design.Below is information on the alternative turbine design, used across the world in a low proportion to horizontal designs, in an attempt to harness renewable electricity.A vertical turbine works on the same principle for generating electricity from the winds energy, only the propellers have a different design and are tipped on their axis.

If you imagine a propeller plane in the position of a space shuttle just before launch, then this is what you see, the generator at the base of the shaft and the shaft spins round like the propeller would.One of the first vertical axis wind turbines was first patented in 1927, making this design one of the first wind energy harnessing technologies available, and it is still in use today.You may now be wondering, why you haven't seen a single one of these turbines with your own eyes, but you will have probably seen this method of using the wind before.Spinning signs outside shops and petrol stations were a common design back in the 1990's, and they spun on their axis faster and faster with luminous messages on either side.Those signs use exactly the same principle as the vertical turbines, as they spin on a vertical axis to do their job.If you are interested in learning why the majority of wind turbines you see today use the horizontal design, then you may want to take a look at the advantages and disadvantages of horizontal wind turbines on our alternative vertical wind turbines page.

Vertical Wind Turbines

The more common type of wind turbines built across the world is the horizontal wind turbine.This horizontal turbine has a large shaft with the propellers based on top, compared with the vertical wind turbines design.These vertical wind turbine designs are less common and you may not have seen them before. The main difference between the horizontal and vertical designs is the rotation of the blades.In the more common horizontal form, the blades are on the top, spinning round in the air. The vertical design has the generator positioned at the base of the tower, and has the blades wrapped around the shaft. So here you can see that the horizontal turbine spins round in a propeller type motion, which is different to the vertical wind turbine design, which spins round in a circle in a cylinder type design.The disadvantage of the vertical turbines are they require guide ropes to hold the shaft in place.This requires more land space as the ropes need to be run from the tip of the shaft, and need to clear the blades.On the other hand, the vertical construction is quieter than the horizontal design.The disadvantage of the horizontal method, explained above, is the noise created by the blades, yet the advantage is that the shaft can support the propeller at the tip and there is no need to install guide ropes.One of the main reason why developers prefer the horizontal axis design is due to land space.Due to the relatively high initial cost of natural energy technologies, developers would opt for the horizontal wind turbine design to keep costs down.Some modern vertical designs however, do not require guide ropes, and there is a growing market for home, vertical axis wind turbines.Many people are investing in home wind turbines in order to generate a source of clean power.Wind turbines can also work great as an addition to a solar panel system.