Wind energy or wind power uses the process by which the wind is used to generate mechanical power or electricity. It is a form of kinetic energy that is converted by the wind into mechanical power. Wind energy is converted into a useful form of energy such as electricity by using wind turbines. Worldwide wind power has produced around 1.5% of electricity usage since 2008 and is still rapidly growing and has almost doubled that capacity since 2005. Commercially around 80 countries are using wind power since 2009 and some of these countries have achieved relatively high levels of wind power such as Spain, Portugal, Germany and other developed countries. Due to many human oversights, wind energy has been overlooked by many people as an alternative energy source and what they do not understand is that wind does not need to be produced which means there is a constant supply of wind. It was stated from the department of energy that off shore wind farms are capable of producing sufficient amounts of energy to power an entire nation. This statement tells us that we have nowhere near utilized the full capabilities of wind power and perhaps in the near future wind power will become one of the major sources of renewable energy globally.
The initial set up is very expensive but after the initial costs this is one of the cheapest forms of electricity available. Wind energy has its advantages and disadvantages like most things in life. Some advantages is that it is a free and renewable resource an no matter how much you use today the same supply will still be available in the future. This is a source of clean and non polluting electricity and does not emit air pollutants or greenhouse gases. It has been stated that it would take about 175 million trees to offset the same amount of air quality as a wind power plant does. One of the disadvantages is that the initial costs are high and 80% of the cost is the machinery as opposed to fossil fueled generators but once they are installed there is no fuel to purchase and minimal costs go into operating wind energy.
