Wind+Energy+(Steve+Greco)

Energy from the wind is harnessed by large towers, usually about one hundred feet tall, called wind turbines. Wind turbines can catch slower winds if they are higher, therefore harnessing the most energy([|www.nrel.gov]). The two or three blades, which form a rotor on top of the turbine, are pushed by the wind, creating a pocket of low pressure air on the downwind side of the blade. The low-pressure air pocket then pulls the blade toward it, causing the rotor to turn. This is called lift. The force of the lift is actually much stronger than the wind's force against the front side of the blade, which is called Drag. The combination of lift and drag causes the rotor to spin like a propeller, and the turning shaft spins a generator to make electricity ([|www.nrel.gov]). media type="youtube" key="eXejxcW-XGo" height="238" width="308" How a wind turbine works (www.youtube.com)
 * //WHAT IS IT?//**

Much like solar power, wind energy is trying to adress the problems of power plants that burn coal and oil and release deadly emissions into the atmosphere and waterways that surround them. Power plants account for 40.5% of all carbon emissions released into the atmosphere ([|www.eia.doe.gov]). Wind energy can also help with the problem of high costs for electricty. WInd energy can lower your energy bill greatly and many large building and corporations have turned to it such as the Great Lakes Science Center and Cleveland Browns Stadium, which both employ a wind turbine to cut their energy costs.
 * //WHAT PROBLEMS IS IT TRYING TO ADRESS?//**

Wind energy is most useful when you put a mass amount of wind turbines in one area, called a wind farm. A wind farm that has ten turbines capable of producing 700 kW of power can produce a total of 7 mW of power **([|www.awea.org]),** which is enough to power Highland Heights and parts of Mayfield. Some wind farms can produce upwards of 500 mW which could power hundreds of thousands of homes and even whole cities. Stand-alone wind turbines can also help cut cost of companies and businesses, as earlier stated by the fact Cleveland Browns Stadium and the Great Lakes Science Center use turbines. A Wind Farm outside of Palm Springs, California. ([|www.freefoto.com])
 * //WHEN IS IT USEFUL?//**

WInd energy mostly pretains to the carbon cycle because of it's ability to reduce excess carbon produced by power plants that burn gas and oil. If wind energy were to become a dominant source of energy it could reduce carbon emissions by about 40% ([|www.eia.doe.gov]). If this excess carbon was eliminated, the carbon cycle could have a chance to balance out and the odds of golbal warming occuring because of man made carbon would greatly decrease.
 * //HOW DOES IT RELATE TO ONE OR MORE OF THE NUTRIENT CYCLES?//**

Wind energy can be a viable solution to protecting the atmosphere, if like stated above, it is used in mass numbers. If we use wind energy to power whole cities and tear down the old gas burning power plants, than yes wind energy could be very succesful in protecting the atmosphere. But until that happens, wind energy will remain a way to simply lower energy bills.
 * //IS IT A VIABLE SOLUTION TO PROTECT THE ATMOSPHERE?//**

Enviromental consequences from wind energy mostly pretain to birds and other flying creatures. The construction of a wind turbine can cause damage to habitat (knocking down trees, building roads, installing power wires, etc.) but it is not a killer of animals, which is contrary to popular belief. Most think that since a wind turbine is so high up and moves with such force, it has to claim the lives of hundreds of birds. This is false because for every 10,000 bird fatalities, only one of them is due to a turbine. Compare that to the 1000 due to cats and you will see that turbines are not dangerous to animals.
 * //WHAT ARE THE POSSIBLE CONSEQUENCES TO THE ENVIROMENT?//**

Works Cited AWEA. (2009). //Wind energy faq//. Retrieved from []

EIA,. (2005, July 14). //Wind energy potnetial//. Retrieved from http://www.eia.doe.gov/emeu/reps/rpmap/rp_contents.html

NREL,. (2009, February 13). //Wind research//. Retrieved from http://nrel.gov/wind/