ACE	Wind Harvesting
Home Solar Panels Wind Harvesting Geothermal Other Energy Energy Saving Tips Graphs Summary Bibliography Meet the Crew Project Information Previous Next	The wind is air in motion. It is a renewable source of energy that people across the world are starting to use in order to conserve energy. Throughout history people have harnessed the wind in many ways. The Egyptians used wind energy over 5,000 years ago to sail their ships. Later people used windmills to grind grain. The earliest known windmills were in Persia. These looked like large paddle wheels. Over the many years since then people have been improving the basic design of the windmill. We now have amazing wind turbines, which are used mainly to generate electricity. Sometime we will run out of the all the nonrenewable energies that we use for so much in our society. We need to conserve these energies and use different renewable sources - such as the wind - to help our environment.  The most common design of the modern wind turbine has three blades mounted on a horizontal axis, which is free to rotate into the wind on a tall tower. The most modern designs have been made to be very silent, such that the wind in the trees is louder. Many wind farms use this design to generate electricity for communities or companies. Not many people have wind turbines as their home electricity generators, though people can benefit from getting them. But generating electricity depends a lot on whether the winds are favorable. With the speed of the rotating windmill blades and the perfect power of the wind people can have electricity to their satisfaction. Where I live it is not very windy and so wind power is not the best way to get electricity all the time.   In Canada there are wind farms in Alberta, Saskatchewan, Quebec and Prince Edward Island. In 2002 Canada produced about 450 million kilowatt-hours of electricity. This is enough to supply about 56,000 typical Canadian homes. If this clean silent electricity were to be used instead of the coal-generated electricity then the environment would be freed of about 450,000 tonnes of the carbon dioxide that is being discharged into the atmosphere each year. There is a controversy around windmills. When the wind farms are built, they affect what people see. To have a wind farm is to have many wind turbines set up together and this has a great impact on the scenery. The tall fast moving blades make some people dizzy and affect the wildlife - especially birds - which pass. Many people say that it might not be a good idea for wind farms to be set up all over the world in places that are scenic. Though if a couple could be set up to generate electricity for communities, I think wind power could be a very good way to conserve energy.