Green Side Out - The green lifestyle

The use of wind energy has been around for thousands of years. Back in 5000 B.C. wind was being used for energy to for boats to go across the Nile River along with windmills in China being used in 200 B.C. to pump water. In Persia and the Middle East wind energy was being used to help with the process of grinding grain.

In the 11th century people in the Middle East were using wind energy to help with food production and their merchants and crusaders took this idea to Europe. The Dutch then made the use of wind energy more efficient by using windmills to drain lakes and marshes into the Rhine River Delta. Settlers ended up taking this new technology to the New World in the 19th century, which was then being used to drain farms and to power up homes and businesses.

The use of steam engines and low cost electric power in Europe and America made the use of wind energy decline in the 1930’s. However, during this time the use of bigger windmills to produce power was also used and this helped to power up a local utility network for a time during World War II.

The use and interest of using wind energy has gone up and down over the years. When oil is at a low price it seems interest begins to fall as the oil is more affordable, but when the oil prices rise to where the average person is struggling to obtain it, the interest in wind energy surges again.

With wind energy having the ability to bring power to homes and businesses with clean and renewable energy, this source will be used for many, many years. The cost is starting to come down in this type of power to be more comparable to other energy sources and is expected to be even less. It is said that if more people use wind energy to power their homes and businesses that they may be able to cut their electricity bill by 50 percent up to 90 percent.

The use of wind energy will also be a helpful way to make our atmosphere and environment stronger as it does not emit smog and other harmful pollutants into our air. The supply of wind is not going to run out either as it comes naturally from our Earth.

Windmills can be built on farms and ranches which can be used to power so many houses and businesses, and because they take up minimal space the farmers and ranchers would still be able to use their land for their own purposes.

There are drawbacks to the use of wind energy however. Wind energy cannot be stored and this in turn can cause problems when the wind is not blowing for the time that the power is needed. Cost effectiveness may be an issue, however this is disagreed upon, because building windmills cost more initially then other sources do.