Wind turbines generate clean electricity for wide varieties of powers. There is roughly enough wind power in the U.S. to power over 15 million homes. The turbines catch the wind at higher altitudes. When the wind blows the blade, a pocket of lower pressure air forms on one side of the blade. The low pressure air pulls the blade towards it which causes the rotor to spin. A set of gears can increase the rotation speed from about 18 revolutions a minute to 1,800 revolutions per minute. To put that into perspective, the turbine generator could make AC electricity. A key component is the turbine's controller. The helps from the turbine exceeding 55 mph which could cause damage from the wind. An anemometer constantly is measuring wind speeds and transmitting the data to the controller. Large wind turbines are mostly used to provide power to a grid. They range from 100 kilowatts to several megawatts. They are often grouped together in wind farms to produce larger amounts of electricity. There can be a couple of them or hundreds of them making enough electricity to power up to tens of thousands of homes. Smaller turbines produce of to 100 kilowatts. They are found closer to where the electricity is going to be used, near homes, telecommunications dishes or water pumping stations. Offshore turbines are used in several countries to use the strong consistent winds off the coastline. They can make about 4,000 gigawatts of electricity (“How a Wind”).
Instead of using electricity to make wind, wind turbines use wind to make electricity. Wind will turn the blades around on a rotor. The rotor spins a generator which then creates electricity. Wind is a form of solar energy caused by three things. The sun unevenly heating our atmosphere, irregularities of earth’s surface and the rotation of the earth. “Wind energy” and “Wind power” both can be used to describe the process where the wind is used to produce mechanical power or electricity. A generator can turn mechanical power into electricity. When wind crosses the blade, pressure on the other side of the blade decreases. The difference in these air pressures cause lift and drag. The force on the lift side overpowers the drag side which causes the rotor to spin. The rotor is connected to a generator through a shaft and gears or directly attached. This force causes the generator to produce electricity (“How Do Wind”).
In 2021 the world generated 10% of its electricity from wind and solar power. 50 countries were making more than 10% of their power from wind and solar power. 10 countries produced 25% of the power from wind and solar. Denmark was the highest wind and solar-powered country at around 52% of their power coming from wind and solar power. A report found that the power of wind and solar could grow so fast that it would limit global warming to 1.5º Celsius (34.7ºF) above levels of industrialization. To make that happen it would require a 10-year average compound growth rate of 20% to be maintained until 2030. Solar generation grew 23% globally in 2021. Wind supply gained 14% over the same time period. This report included data from over 200 countries between 2000-2020. In 2021 data from 75 countries was added. Some problems that are holding this transformation back include on ground constraints like getting permits to build, if the governments want to speed up the growth they need to solve problems slowing the deployment. There are some other forms of power that also increased like coal generation. Coal was up 9% in 2021 and was 59% of the total demand rise. Gas generation only increased about 1% in 2021. The overall fossil fuel use rapidly increased the carbon dioxide emission to an all-time high that was recently set in 2018 (Dewan).