With energy issues becoming a daily subject in the news, wind energy is gaining notoriety. Here is an overview of wind farms and their potential.

An Overview of Wind Farms

A wind farm is simply a collection of wind turbines in a location used to produce electricity. Wind farms can be found in the United States, but are far more prevalent in Europe. China is also beginning to invest large amounts of resources in wind farms as its energy needs grow.

The fundamentals of electricity production through wind farms are pretty simple. Highly efficient wind turbines are placed in locations where they will receive the maximum amount of wind energy. These turbines can be traditional horizontal windmills or vertical eggbeater windmills.

Regardless, the wind turns the blades as it passes, which turns a generator within the turbine. The turning motion converts the wind energy into electricity when the generator cranks, which is then sent into a utility company power grid or stored in batteries. This process is similar to hydropower with wind being used instead of water.

The stereotypical wind farm is an exercise in topography. The goal is to find locations where wind exists as frequently as possible. Put in practical terms, ideal spots are in areas where ground variation occurs as wind is produced when different surface areas heat up at different rates. As each surface heats up, the air rises and cooler air rushes in to replace it. Thus, we have wind. Given this situation, ideal locations for wind farms are often along shorelines or in valleys funneling winds from the shore.

Many people are under the impression that wind farms are located only in areas of land where winds are howling through valleys and over hills. While this is certainly true, the current trend is to build wind farms off the shorelines of countries.

The advantage of offshore wind farms has to do with the frequency and generation of winds. Shorelines represent fertile wind generation areas. On top of this, the open space of the ocean allows winds generated from remote locations to move towards shorelines. If you have ever spent time going sailing, you have an understanding of how strong these winds can be. On top of all of this, placing wind farms in the ocean avoids the cost of buying pricey space on land.

Wind farms are up and functioning in most first world countries. The bigger issue is getting them to produce enough energy at as low a price as possible to make them a viable energy production platform.

Global warming over the next half-century could put more than a million species of plants and animals on the road to extinction, according to an international study

Thomas, lead author of the study published in the science journal Nature, said emissions from cars and factories could push temperatures up to levels not seen for 1 million to 30 million years by the end of the century, threatening many habitats. The sweeping new analysis, enlisting scientists from 14 laboratories around the globe, found that more than one-third of 1,103 native species they studied in six regions around the world could vanish or plunge to near extinction by 2050 as climate change turns plains into deserts or alters forests.

Global warming is widely blamed on rising concentrations of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere linked to emissions of gases from burning fossil fuels in cars, factories and power plants. We can cut global warming pollution by reducing pollution from vehicles and power plants.

We can increase our reliance on renewable energy sources such as wind, sun and geothermal. And we can manufacture more efficient appliances and conserve energy.

But all this will take time, instead we should think of alternatives which can be done immediately like doing ridesharing or carpool, using clean fuel like CNG. There is no reason to wait and hope that hydrogen fuel cell vehicles will solve the problem in the future. Right away, we should put existing technologies for building cleaner cars and more modern electricity generators into widespread use.

If current trends continue Global warming will have catastrophic effects like:

• Melting glaciers, early snowmelt and severe droughts will cause more dramatic water shortages in the American West.

• Rising sea levels will lead to coastal flooding on the Eastern seaboard, in Florida, and in other areas, such as the Gulf of Mexico.

• Warmer sea surface temperatures will fuel more intense hurricanes in the south-eastern Atlantic and Gulf coasts.

• Forests, farms and cities will face troublesome new pests and more mosquito-borne diseases.

• Disruption of habitats such as coral reefs and alpine meadows could drive many plant and animal species to extinction.

Such alarming facts call for some serious action on each one’s part and we can contribute by sharing our vehicles and making carpools in our cities.

Many people look to hydrogen fuel cells as the answer to our energy issues. The only problem, of course, is creating usable hydrogen. Chocolate production may be the answer.

Chocolate &ndash The Answer To Hydrogen Fuel Supplies?

Mention hydrogen as a fuel source and politicians, scientists and techies get that glassed over look in their eyes. Simply put, hydrogen is a perfect fuel. It can be combined with oxygen to produce electricity. Hydrogen is the most comment element on our planet. When used as an energy source, it produces no greenhouse gases or other pollutants. Sounds great, right?

There is just one problem with the idea of using hydrogen as the solution to all of our energy problems. While hydrogen is the most common element on our planet, it is rarely found in a usable form. Instead, hydrogen tends to cling to other elements such as oxygen, which gives us H2O &ndash water. The power required to separate hydrogen from these other elements is shockingly large.

In the United States, Honda has a number of hydrogen vehicles it is testing on the road via some families. The cars work well. Powering them, however, is the problem. The families must take the cars to a specific station at a Honda facility. There, they will find a few hundred feet of solar panels and a hydrogen tank. It takes the system roughly two to three weeks to create enough usable hydrogen for one full tank for the car. Given the fact there are millions of cars on the road, you can see the problem. Yes, there are more efficient methods for conversion than solar power, but nothing remotely efficient enough to create enough usable hydrogen.

In a humorous turn, scientists in the UK have discovered that hydrogen can be produced from the wastes of creating confectionaries such as chocolate. The waste is treated with e coli bacteria. Yes, that e coli. The bacteria then process the food material and produces gas. Guess what kind of gas is produced? Yes, hydrogen.

Could it be that chocolate will play a fundamental role in a hydrogen fuel future? Could we really be that lucky?