Green Side Out - The green lifestyle

Creativity, as they say is the mother of invention, and when it comes to creating ways to harness wind power, the world is finding some extremely innovative methods of doing just that. It’s no secret thank man has been aware of the natural energy the wind provides for centuries, but until recently few people have given any serious thought to changing the methods that were established to generate wind power.

The windmill has been used for years to create wind power for simple functions and it has done its job. Windmills are the opposite of fans; windmills use wind to create electricity and fans create wind by using electricity. The windmill has undergone some radical changes in appearance over the last couple of decades. They now look like giant blades that are turned by the wind and they turn a shaft which turns a gearbox that turns a generator. The blades are positioned at different highs and have been renamed wind turbines. There are several types of turbines. The three blade model has the wind coming at the blades, that’s called an upwind turbine. The two blade model is called a downwind turbine, its blades turn away from the wind. A third version is called a vertical turbine; the blades are shaped like an egg beater, so the changing winds don’t affect the result of creating wind power. All of these turbines can be made to fit any situation and the amount of energy needed is regulated by the size and number of turbines used. There are also hybrid versions of wind turbines that are used in conjunction with solar cells and other devices. The turbine/solar combination has been developed for individual home use.

A relative new approach to harnessing wind power has been developed by a group of scientist in the Netherlands. They are using kites to harness wind power and the results are fantastic. By attaching a ten square meter kite to a generator they have produced ten kilowatts of power which is enough to support ten homes. They are working on a kite that will generate fifty kilowatts as well as a kite that will harness one hundred megawatts of wind power. That array will power one hundred thousand homes. The formation of the kites is called a Laddermill. The kites are tethered at thirty thousand feet and will produce an amazing amount of energy.

The advantage of using kites instead of turbines is that the kites are less expensive and don’t need as much land and are able to fly at higher altitudes where the wind generates more energy.

Research has confirmed that wind power is the cleanest method of creating the energy we need to function in daily life. It can be used all over the world and it has always been used around the world, in some fashion. The most effective way of moving towards a greener world is definitely blowing in the wind. The wind along with water will at some point become unlimited sources of energy for the 21st century and for centuries to come. Even the rich oil nations are developing methods of harnessing wind power; they know it’s just a matter of time before nature changes its course and we change our beliefs.