Wind Power

Most of the world's energy currently comes from fossil fuels such as coal, oil and natural gas. There are an estimated 1354 billion barrels of oil left in earth, and 80 million barrels of oil are consumed per day¹. According to these statistics, if our society keeps consuming oil at this rate, earth's oil will only last 16,925 more days, or 46.5 years (as of Jan. 1 2010)¹. To combat this growing issue, many alternative sources of energy have been developed. Popular alternative energy sources include geothermal power, tidal power, hydroelectric power, solar power, nuclear power and wind power. A highly controversial source of environmentally-friendly energy is wind power. Wind power is often criticized because turbines are often assumed to be noisy, unsightly, expensive, a waste of space and a hazard for birds, but many of these beliefs are either untrue or have no evidence to support them. This paper will outline common arguments against wind power, prove them to be false, and show why wind power should be implemented as a major energy source worldwide.

Wind power is one of the oldest sources of energy that humans have learned to capture. Sailboats were the first way that wind energy was harnessed and used. The invention of the sail used wind as a way to propel boats, which was a significant advance in technology. This allowed trade between countries separated by seas or oceans, and allowed resources and people to be moved. In around 500-900 AD in Persia, windmills were invented and implemented to pump water. This was also highly significant and allowed people living further from shore easier access to water. Soon after, windmills were beginning to be used also to grind grain. In 1888 in America, windmills were used to generate electricity for the first time. Charles Brush built a large windmill in Ohio to generate electricity, but it could only gather about a tenth of the energy a comparably sized turbine could gather today. Many of these ideas and developments