“There is enough energy for people to reap from the wind to meet all of the world’s power demands without radically altering the planet’s climate” – Inside Science
Wind energy is a renewable source of clean energy that is growing at an alarming rate and rightfully so as the advantages of wind energy are astounding.
What those colossal wind turbines are doing when you drive through, usually, remote areas is converting all the untapped kinetic energy from the wind and generating substantial usable electricity that can power homes, pump water or grind grain.
According to the American Wind Energy Association, there is a current estimate of U.S wind energy potential that is 10x greater than the total U.S. energy consumption today. In 2018, the U.S. wind industry supported 114,000 jobs across the nation. Wind energy also generated 6.5% of the nation’s electricity in 2018 — and it currently provides over 20% of the electricity produced!
There are numerous benefits and advantages of wind energy that, when harnessed and utilized, can create world-changing advances in relation to how we get our power.
Image Credit: Energy.gov
Let’s take a look at the top 10 advantages of wind energy that can be used today.
- Wind energy is a free, renewable, green, source of energy that has a significantly small impact on the carbon footprint. In 2018, electricity generated from wind turbines avoided an estimated 200 million tons of carbon pollution. That’s equal to about 43 million cars!
- The U.S. wind energy sector is creating significant jobs, with the wind turbine technician position being one of the fastest-growing American jobs of the decade. Wind has the potential to support more than 600,000 jobs by 2050.
- The American Wind Energy Associated stated how wind power produced $9.4 billion in public health savings last year alone by simply removing any pollutants that create smog thus translating to a lower level of asthma attacks and other lung-related health issues.
- Wind farms, areas where wind turbines are located, are excellent in providing energy to remote or isolated areas which is enormously advantageous to developing countries, those who reside in the mountain/countryside, and all others who live “off the grid.”
- Unlike Fossil Fuels and Power plants, wind energy has one of the lowest water consumption footprints which is crucial due to the world’s diminishing water supply.
Image Credit: American Wind Energy Association
- Wind is a domestic source of energy, meaning the supply is abundant and inexhaustible. Over the past 10 years, cumulative wind power in the U.S. increased an average of 30% per year. It currently has the largest renewable capacity of all renewables in the U.S.
- Wind turbines take up astronomically less space compared to that of fossil factories and have a significantly lower impact of damage on the environment.
- Wind power is considered to be a “drought-resistant” cash opportunity that countless farmers and ranchers rely on to provide for their families and to keep their homes. Wind developers typically pay farmers $4,000 to $8,000 for each turbine they lease on their land.
- Wind power will require nations to need less and less fuel sources to be imported as our energy will be fully sustained.
- For as long as earth is around and spinning, that means wind be existent translating to a neverending source of power for those who inhabit it. Combining it with the power of solar energy, there is unlimited potential to what we can achieve.
While there are several challenges associated with wind energy, such as the hazards that wind turbines pose on birds, scientists are making massive breakthroughs in revolutionizing the way they are constructed and built.
How Everglades University Can Help
The world needs people who understand the severity of harnessing all the natural resources we possibly can as to reduce the damage we pose on our home planet.
Everglades University offers an undergraduate Bachelor of Science Degree with a major in Alternative and Renewable Energy Management that is ideal for those who wish to learn more.
Courses offered through the program are designed to prepare students for an entry-level career in Alternative and Renewable Energy Management.
Classes include:
- Energy Policy
- Solar Energy and Photovoltaics
- Alternative Energy Equipment
- Energy and the Environment
- Managing an Alternative Energy Project