Wind Turbine - Advantages & Disadvantages Of Using A Wind Turbine.

"What Is A Wind Turbine? & What Are The Advantages & Disadvantages Of Using A Wind Turbine?"

So lets first start off by answering this question... "What is A Wind Turbine?" A Wind turbine is a device with clock like hands that rotate, then converts kinetic energy from wind into energy as it rotates. If the wind that the turbine converts is electricity, the machine is called a wind generator.

If you take a look at the picture on the right hand side here -> ->
You will see a good image of a wind turbine in full effect generating electricity as its in operation. Wind Turbines can be separated into two types based on by the axis in which the wind turbine rotates. The most common type of axis is the horizontal axis. Then there is the vertical axis which are less frequently used. Lets talk about the horizontal and vertical axis below.

Horizontal Axis

So lets talk about the horizontal axis first. The horizontal axis wind turbine, or otherwise known as (HAWT) for short have a main rotor shaft and also an electrical generator at the very top of the tower. This HAWT is positioned directly in front of the wind. The small turbines are pointed by whats called a wind vane, while the larger turbines generally use a wind sensor combined with a servo motor. The majority of wind turbines have a gearbox which comes in useful. The gearbox basically turns the slow rotation of the blades into a quicker rotation that is more suitable to generating electricity.

It is interesting to note that a wind turbine produces turbulence behind it, the turbine is usually pointed upwind of the actual tower. The blades of the turbine need to be created stiff to prevent them from being pushed into the tower by high winds. In addition to this, the blades are positioned a good distance in front of the tower and are sometimes tilted up a small amount to be more effective.

Vertical Axis

Then there is the vertical axis wind turbines or VAWT"s for short reference. These devices have the main rotor shaft thats arranged vertically. Perhaps the some of the great advantages of this sort of arrangement is that the wind turbine itself does not need to be pointed into the wind for it to be operating effectively! This really becomes and advantage on sites where the direction of the wind is highly variable. VAWTs can utilize winds from varying directions.

It is also worth noting that it is difficult to mount vertical axis turbines on towers. This means that the axis are often installed nearer to the base on which they rest. This is normally the ground or building rooftop. What this enables is the ease of accessibility to mechanical components. However, since there is less wind energy available due to the fact that wind speed is slower at a lower altitude, there is less wind energy available for a given size of turbine. Airflow that is near the ground can create turbulent flow. What this does is it creates issues of vibration which include noise and bearing wear. Its possible for these issues to increase the maintenance or shorten the service life. If there are designs that do not have helical rotors installed, there is an increasing chance that torque variation will occur.

Advantages & Disadvantages

So now we move onto the advantages and disadvantages of wind turbine development. Wind turbine development has its positives and negatives when it comes to environment. Wind energy systems that generate electricity do not create air or water emissions and do not produce hazardous waste into the environment. On a further note, they do not deplete natural resources such as coal, oil and gas, nor do they cause environmental damage through resource extraction and transportation.

A Wind pollution free electricity system like a wind turbine can help to reduce the environmental damage that is caused by power generation from fossil fuels. However, wind power is an intermittent power source. The power production from a wind turbine many increase or decrease dramatically over a short period of time with little or no warning! Also some individuals living in very close proximity to large turbine installations have voiced complaints about their visual impact. There has also been complaints about noise regarding these wind turbines. So there are pro's and cons to a wind turbine in operation. However, we feel that the pro's certainly out weight the con's significantly!