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Positives and negative effects of wind energy

Pollution has created lots of problems for the people all round the globe. It is mainly due to the burning of the fossil fuels to produce energy necessary to supply electricity. Therefore, people are trying to find ways and means to exploit the renewable source of energies to accomplish the same tasks. Wind power is one of the technologies that have become popular among the consumers because it is environment friendly however not everything is hunky dory about it. There are advantages as well as disadvantages too as we have a look at each of them.

Positives of wind energy:

Pollution less technology: No fossil fuel is burned in generating the wind power; therefore it doesn’t add harmful carbon-di- oxide into the atmosphere. Many countries are switching to the wind mills into order to harness the tremendous forces of the nature.
Amazing potential: According to experts, the energy generated from strong winds can replenish the power demands of the population by a factor of 20. In short adequate amount of energy is available for the mankind.

Renewable source: Unlike fossil fuel, wind energy can be replenished as it originates from the sun. The potential to exploit the renewable technology is enormous without harming the environment.

Powerful wind turbines: If people are thinking that wind turbines are in anyway inferior to the conventional ones, they are highly mistaken. In fact they are so powerful that single machine can easily power 600 homes on a trot.

Tremendous growth potential: The total electricity production by wind power is only about 2.5% and it is bound to grow in the future at a tremendous pace. Hence coastal areas that are replenished with westerly and easterly winds can exploit their power to generate electricity.

Scalability: Initially the wind power was costly but the production in mass scale has led to the price reduction over a period of time. It is going to decrease further with the popularity of the technology. Moreover scalability has also played a very important role in the reduction of the operational costs. Even the residents can install small turbines to generate energy and save homes from the power outages.

Also read: Positive and negative effects of recycling

Negatives of wind energy:

Intermittent occurrence: Wind doesn’t blow at a constant speed as there are times when it doesn’t blow at all. In such cases, production of power on a sustained basis is not possible. At most, it can be used as a supplement to the conventional power but cannot replace it completely. In addition, batteries have to be installed to store the additional power. Although future technological breakthroughs can be predicted, wind power production is still in the nascent stages.

Investment intensive endeavor: In order to manufacture and install wind turbines, users have to invest lot of money upfront. Therefore, it is vital to weigh the pros and cons before proceeding ahead with the purchase. For an electricity producer, the breakeven point of the investment occurs only after 20 years.

Noise pollution: Wind turbines often create noise and cause problems to the neighbors. Sometimes during night it can be extremely uncomfortable to the people living around.