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wind power turbines

Read and learn more about wind power turbines. For more, visit the Renewable Energy website EnergySourceRenewable.org

Q: How many Wind Turbines would you need to power a city?
I am doing a project in Science (Essay) It involves Wind Turbines and Wind power. If there is a city of 122,000 people how many wind turbines would i need???? HELP ITS DUE IN TWO DAYS!!!!
PLEASE HELP! IF YOU DO THANK YOU SO MUCH!

A: Sounds fairly easy, unless you consider the reality. Some numbers that will help:
A normal home in a city will average about 1 kW, maybe 1.2 kW. This is about 1,000 Watts
So you are probably looking at a total average power demand of about 130,000 to 150,000 kW. In this range they start referring to power in terms of MegaWatts (MW), which equals 1000 kW. So your required average Power Demand is about 150 MW, or 15,000 kW.
The average for a single wind turbine is about 1.5 MW at full power. So if wind conditions are right — and constant — you would need about 100 Wind Turbines to supply the city.

Now the reality:
Wind is NOT constant — and is not dependable. I think you need at least about a 7 mph wind, just to begin turning the propellers. If the wind can not remain at better than 7 mph, you get ZERO power. What then? So then in addition to the wind turbines, you need at least 150 MW of “other” generation — such as Natural Gas Turbines (basically a stand alone jet engine) , or a coal fired power plant. So now you have expensive costs for “redundant” generation.
In addition — this is their “maximum” generation at say a 15 mph wind. What happens when the wind is only 10 mph? You maybe get only 50 MW when you need 150 MW. Big Problem.
Then, the biggest problem: On a hot 95 degree summer day — when everyone needs power the most — everyone is running their Air Conditioning all out. But now that is the days the wind is NOT blowing. If the wind was blowing — it would be much cooler. So on the hottest days, when the most power is required — the wind does not blow — and the wind turbines produce no power.
Then the maintenance issues are so bad on these wind turbine units that many companies are just abandoning these wind units in place, and just walking away. They are not economical at all. Without massive “Government” subsidies — free money from the Government — our tax money — no one would even touch these.
The installed costs are high — the maintenance costs to keep them running are high — there are additional cost for the “back-up” generation that they were supposed to replace, but in reality can’t replace.
It may be a Politically Correct policy right now — but in reality not a good or rational decision.

Q: How many homes can the large 3-blade wind turbines power?
We’ve had a bunch of wind farms pop up in my area and I was wondering how many homes each turbine could power.
Here’s a picture of what I mean:

http://blogs.business2.com/greenwombat/images/2007/07/27/oregon_wind_farm.jpg
Hahaha where I am, it blows almost constantly.

A: It depends on your definition of “large.”

The largest of the wind turbines have a capacity of around 5 MW in ideal conditions. The average home consumes about 1000 watts of power (averaged over a 24 hour period), so one of these monsters could, in theory, power 5000 homes.

As David has correctly pointed out, the problem is that wind does not always blow at the optimal speed, and residential power consumption is not linear. Peak demand (between 7 am and 9 am, and again at 5 pm to 9 pm) rarely coincides with maximum generating capacity. The next problem is that surplus capacity is almost impossible to store.

David – even at 1 MW, that’s enough to power 1000 homes not 100.

Q: How many wind turbines would it take to power the UK?
This isn’t a joke, despite how the question is worded ;)

To power the whole of the UK solely on wind generated power using the kinetic energy produced alone, how many of those huge turbines would we need to have?

Also, do you think is a feasible solution to the energy crisis?

A: Great question.

I came across 30,000 as the figure. They cost approx £2M each. That’s £60B. We could do that in 5 years with 1p on income tax or NI. Site them out at sea where no one can see them.

Couple that with a small turbine on every house and solar – give local grants for this and we’d be pretty much energy independent within 5 years and carbon free.

This sounds too easy – what’s the problem?

Backup and intermittency – Use nuclear, hydro-electric and bio-mass burning energy plants – all oil and coal fired power stations closed. Get some tidal energy systems installed – tidal is much more consistent that wind. Have battery storage at home (some safety issues here but not insurmountable and really no different than gaving a gas supply). That would sort those issues out.

Job losses – Yes but these would be offset by jobs in these new power sectors.

Impact on oil prices and the UKCS Oil industry – Probably a price drop in oil but as these are diminishing resourses there would be upward price pressure from market forces supply and demand therefore – probably overall no change.

We could export our surpluses giving us a tidy way of clearing the costs of converting to wind, tidal solar etc. The Oil industry would be unchanged – it’s in decline anyway.

Unhooking ourselves from gas – Micro generation fuel cells using hydrogen from local hydrolosis using clean wind energy would sort that out.

We’d be energy independent and carbon free with a significant new export revenue source. Surely this is do-able. I think I’ll write to my MP about this – what about you?

Q: How will wind power create the materials needed to manufacture wind turbines?
Wind turbines have the evil plastic in their structure. Also wind provides energy, not matter.

A: Wind power provides very little net energy. It is a non-starter. The use of plastics in wind turbines (as in ALL turbines) is a non-issue and completely misses the point.

Wind energy is a tempting IDEA but a disappointing reality. Wind power is so unreliable and variable that equivalent standby power has to be available all the time, wasting energy. Wind turbine construction is heavily subsidised and the electricity produced (even without allowing for the hidden cost of standby cover) is so expensive it is uneconomical. Power companies only buy wind generated power because they HAVE to by law and they cover the excessive cost by charging us more for ALL our electricity. If it wasn’t for the subsidies (direct grants plus subsidies through us paying more for conventional power) there would be no wind energy in the UK. It is an appalling waste of money that could be better spent on more productive, more economical, more reliable power generation using other technologies.

Tidal power is stronger and totally predictable but receives only a fraction of the subsidy of wind power. Ignoring ideology and looking for a realistic practical solution, we need to be building nuclear power capacity plus clean-burn coal fired power stations with tidal power as a longer term source.

Q: What are some recent breakthroughs, developments, or other news about wind power and wind turbines?

A: great news you van find it at http://www.windpowercost.org ; they have full details about wind energy and ways on how to build your own wind power network at home. Step by step free courses.

Q: So we can use wind turbines to generation Energy, ie Wind Power. The Earth has many more powerful elements …
So we can use wind turbines to generation Energy, ie Wind Power. The Earth has many more powerful elements … Could these be harvested to create Power?

A: Yes we can. We just have to be weened off of nuclear and oil generated power. Many companies would be hurting and many people would be out of the job if we switched to natural power over night. We are slowly but surly switching to natural power. California is using tidal power for some things. Some places are using wind power. The ecological park down the hill from me gets their power from the sun. Some houses on my road have solar panels on their roofs for solar power. We are slowly heading in the right direction. Some companies and other places use geothermal energy (heat from the Earth’s interior for power).

Q: where in the USA is wind power(turbines) most used?
i am doing a project for my science class and i need to know where they are used the most. im not talking about one just powering a house but like a wind farm. if you understand that please just say the names of the states and where(ex. california, silicon valley). thanks for the help
for the first person who answered wat state is that in?

A: They are used a lot in the north, west and southwest, here is a wind map of the US where they would be most efficient.

Q: What are the drawbacks to using wind turbines or solar panels for providing all power to a home?
What are the drawbacks to using wind turbines or solar panels for providing all power to a home?

A. The wind and sun are not constant, so there would be times when no electricity would be generated.
B. The wind and sun are constant, so there would be plenty of electricity for the home.
C. Wind and solar power are inefficient and too expensive to use and maintain.
D. Wind and solar power are efficient, but they are not able to produce enough electricity for a single home.

A: again trying to help..again thnx 4 the previous………
nothing else…………but A.
NO COMMENTS ON THE OTHER OPTIONS….
except these there is another drawback…….its when your brother breaks the solar panel after quarrel with you……then no electricity will b produced………….hope this funny answer u liked……..its just to make yahhooooooooooo answer FUNNNNN…………

Q: Liberals, please tell me without hesitation or hypocrisy : how should we punish wind power turbines operators?
At first I would like to remind you your own opinions, voiced 10 minutes ago, since you often suffer from memory loss:

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20090910093413AAt4NoV

Now lets devise fair punishment for green wind power operators, all things considered.

A July 2008 study of the wind farm at Altamont Pass, Calif., estimated that its turbines kill an average of 80 golden eagles per year. The study, funded by the Alameda County Community Development Agency, also estimated that about 10,000 birds—nearly all protected by the migratory bird act—are being whacked every year at Altamont.

Altamont’s turbines, located about 30 miles east of Oakland, Calif., kill more than 100 times as many birds as Exxon’s tanks, and they do so every year. But the Altamont Pass wind farm does not face the same threat of prosecution, even though the bird kills at Altamont have been repeatedly documented by biologists since the mid-1990s.

The number of birds killed by wind turbines is highly variable. And biologists believe Altamont, which uses older turbine technology, may be the worst example. But that said, the carnage there likely represents only a fraction of the number of birds killed by windmills. Michael Fry of the American Bird Conservancy estimates that U.S. wind turbines kill between 75,000 and 275,000 birds per year. Yet the Justice Department is not bringing cases against wind companies.
Hello, liberals where are you?
I counted a dozen of liberals outraged on behalf of poor birds just 10 minutes ago?

Where did all the rage evaporated. Ok, let me try: I propose to fine the basta rds $5 billion and 10 years in jail for Al Gore
Hello, liberals where are you?
I counted a dozen of liberals outraged on behalf of poor birds just 10 minutes ago.
Where did all the rage evaporate?

Ok, let me try: I propose to fine the basta rds $5 billion and 10 years in jail for Al Gore

A: Altamont is mostly a problem of poor placement. Someone should have known that birds would be a problem. Wind turbines are inherently dangerous for birds so that should have been taken into consideration when the turbines were built.

Protecting birds is only one small part of the equation. Are wind turbines more dangerous to golden eagles than coal plants are? Yes. Are wind turbines worse for the environment in general than coal plants? No, absolutely not. Fossil fuels do a huge amount of damage. Counting up dead birds is only one measure of that.

Remember that wind energy technology is still fairly new. They’re working on new ways of power generation that would have less environmental impact. If we clamped down on them now, we’d stifle innovation and never make any progress. We have to accept a few dead birds as the price for growth.

Q: How does the power from wind turbines get to where the power is needed (houses, schools, ect.)?
I don’t need extreme detail but I need a general idea that is easily explainable to teenagers (8th grade). Diagrams and charts would be most helpful so if you know of a website that I could find one on that would be great. Thanks!

A: The wind blows the blades, the blades turn a shaft which turns a generator, the generator creates power using magnets that make the rotational energy electrical energy. The energy goes to a transformer that goes into the power lines, the powerlines goto a transformer near your house and gets its voltage reduced, the line then goes into your house.

1. The wind blows on the blades and makes them turn.
2. The blades turns a shaft inside the nacelle (the box at the top of the turbine)
3. The shaft goes into a gearbox which increases the rotation speed enough for…
4. The generator, which uses magnetic fields to convert the rotational energy into electrical energy. These are similar to those found in normal power stations.
5. The power output goes to a transformer, which converts the electricity coming out of the generator at around 700 Volts (V) to the right voltage for distribution system, typically 33,000 V.
6. The national grid transmits the power around the country.

Q: How many homes can one wind turbine power in a year?
I know it depends on the region and I know that wind speeds aren’t constant so there isn’t a definite number, but on average, how many homes could one wind turbine power. reliable source please. I’m having an argument with one of my friends. He thinks that wind turbines aren’t worth putting up and they don’t produce a substantial amount of energy, of course I disagree.

A: The output of a wind turbine depends on the turbine’s size and the wind’s speed through the rotor. Wind turbines being manufactured now have power ratings ranging from about 250 watts to 5 megawatts (MW).

A 10-kW wind turbine can generate about 10,000 kWh annually at a site with wind speeds averaging 12 miles per hour, or about enough to power a typical household. A 5-MW turbine can produce more than 15 million kWh in a year–enough to power more than 1, 400 households. The average U.S. household consumes about 10,000 kWh of electricity each year.

Q: How many wind turbines would it take to power a school?
One of the schools in my school district is being renovated, and I was wondering how many (or maybe only one) wind turbines would it take to power the school? There are also 3 schools within a half mile of it, so how many would it take to power all of them too?

A: like 5000 they don’t produce barely no power i play sim city i know

Q: Why do modern wind power turbines only have three blades? If they had six,they’d generate twice the power?
The rotational speed is only dependant on blade stagger angle,load and wind speed. If there were 9,12 or more blades,the power output would rise pro rata & we wouldn’t need so many windmills. If it’s a question of the wind pressure pushing the support tower over then make it stronger!!

A: You can only extract a limited amount of energy out of the wind. Adding too many blades cause turbalances that reduces the efficency of the turbine and drives up costs. Look at the screw propeller, it is only 1/6th of a turn.

Q: what is the correlation or formula for wind power generated by turbines and their size?
in other words how big does a turbine have to be to generate how much power?

A: The site below has a great, comprehensive overview of all things wind. It has an answer on almost any question about size, placement, speed, etc.

Q: Can Model Wind Turbines Produce Electricity To Power An LED Bulb?
I am doing a science fair project using a wind turbine. I will buy it online from kidwind.org. It’s a mini one. Can you please tell me how to use it to power an LED bulb?
Please include source and details!

A: As you know, one of the advantage of LED bulb is it may working on low voltage (DC 5V /DC12V), you can produce electricity by wind turbines with DC voltage output, and then power the LED bulbs.

And you also can find some led bulbs by this:

http://www.ledke.com/products/?anclassid=8

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