Energy Basics: Renewable Energy

Large-scale wind turbines are becoming an increasingly common sight throughout the country, providing enough electricity to meet the needs of more than 600,000 families.

Modern wind energy uses the same basic principles that have been around since the 1800s: the wind spins a rotor, which in turn spins a turbine inside a generator to produce electricity.

How a wind turbine works

Midwest states have great potential

Currently, most of the nation's wind farms are located in California, even though other states, including Minnesota, Iowa and Illinois, have a greater potential for producing wind energy.

An ideal location for a wind farm is one that has an average annual wind speed of at least 14 miles per hour. The area also needs to be flat, with few or no surrounding structures.

One large turbine requires about 1/4-acre of land; the rotor takes up most of this area, so 90 percent of the land remains accessible for farming or other development.

The advantages of wind power

The advantages of wind power are obvious: the energy is free and completely renewable, there are no hazardous emissions, and there are no adverse environmental impacts.

In 1990 in California alone, wind power offset the emission of more than 2.5 billion pounds of carbon dioxide and 15 million pounds of other pollutants - the same amount of air quality provided by more than 150 million trees.

More cost-efficient to produce

Wind power is also becoming more economical to produce: technological innovations have brought the cost of wind power down from more than 30 cents per kilowatt-hour during the 1980s to less than 6 cents per kilowatt hour today.

In addition, wind farms are modular, so additional turbines can be added if the need arises, and construction time is much shorter than a typical fossil fuel power plant.

Wind power can be adapted for residential use, but it's rarely cost-effective on such a small scale. Most residential wind systems are found on ranches or other remotes areas of the western United States, where the homes and other structures are located far from existing power lines.

Did you know?

The largest wind
turbine in the
world, located in
Hawaii, stands
20 stories tall
and has rotors
the length of
a football field.