Wind Energy

To meet the needs of increasing energy demands around the world, people of various fields including environmental conservationists, engineers, material scientists, and aspiring innovators have worked collaboratively to achieve countless breakthroughs in renewable capturers (semiconductors, electrical generators, etc.) efficiency, density, and waste-material reduction. Resultantly, solar panels, wind turbines, geothermal exchanges, and other renewable systems have become increasingly available to consumers as well as substantially decreased in price. 

Although its first generation of global electricity didn’t occur until 1978 and initial adoption was slow, wind has become one of the fastest growing forms of energy throughout the 21st century [1]. In 2000, 15276.96 total terawatt-hours of usable energy was generated with 5,809.34 TWh being derived from coal, 2,745.09 TWh from natural gas, 2,629.08 TWh from hydropower, 2,540.46 TWh from nuclear, 1,323.67 TWh from petroleum, 153. 50 TWh from biofuels, 43.65 TWh from other renewables, 31.14 TWh from wind turbines, and 1.03 TWh from solar. As of most recent reporting in 2023, coal had supplied 10,467.93 TWh, natural gas 6,622.93 TWh, hydropower 4,211.01, nuclear 2,685.74, wind turbines 2,304.44 TWh, solar 1,629.90 TWh, petroleum 788.55 TWh, biofuel 678.74 TWh, and other renewables providing 89.81 TWh. 

While some transitions to renewable capturers may be influenced by financial incentives, recent advancements including increased output per unit (bigger blades + taller towers), simplified onsite assembly/construction, and end-of-life recycling have largely contributed [2]. (As more companies invest in the construction of turbines, residents of such areas can switch their electricity supplier, but weigh the pros and cons of each).

Upon first in development in 1978, turbines were relatively small with easier maintenance but produced little energy. Following decades of structural improvements, both blade length and tower height have increased to approximately 360 feet (blade) and 800 feet (tower) allowing for more wind-to-blade surface area and resulting energy. (Due to concurrent improvements in generator efficiency, conversion allows significantly greater electrical production). With increases in size, large-scale manufacturing and assembly proved quite difficult until fabricators were able to standardize designs allowing for interlocking components to be machined. Once all pieces are onsite, workers can then effectively assemble the wind turbine with eventual easier maintenance and safety. With respect to aging units beyond feasible repair, additional efforts are being made to disassemble their structures and recycle all possible materials for refinement and eventual reuse. Unlike other capturers for coal, natural gas, and petroleum, this is possible due to primarily being comprised of easily recoverable metal and concrete.

In respect to all wind turbine contributions, whether it’s design, manufacturing, transportation, assembly, or maintenance, its technology has come a long way since 1978 and will hopefully continue to progress alongside other renewable innovations.

[1]     Ember and Energy Institute. “Electricity generation from wind power.” https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/wind-generation (accessed January 31, 2025). 

[2]     J. Thilmany. “6 Advances in Wind Energy.” https://www.asme.org/topics-resources/content/6-advances-in-wind-energy (accessed January 31, 2025). 

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