WIND ENERGY COULD HELP THE WORLD

1. The King Fahd University of Petroleum & MineralsWIND ENERGY COULD HELP THE WORLDPrepared forMr. K.MooreEnglish 214-77Technical Report WritingRenewable Energy byAbbas Al-salboukh276495 Abstract This report discusses the ability of wind energy to solve major issues facing the world like global warming and economic crises. In addition , it discusses the use of wind energy around the world. Jan 11, 2011<br /> <br /> <br /> TABLE OF CONTENTS<br /> Introduction..........................................……...........................................................1 <br />I. Background .......................................................…….........................................1 <br /> A. History.......................................................…........................................................1<br /> B. Why wind energy ? .......................................................…….........................1<br /> C. Wind turbines............................................…….................................................2 <br /> II. Use of wind energy in the world..................................................2<br /> A. Farms.......................…….......................................................................................2<br /> B. Buildings.......................................................……................................................3 <br /> III. Advantages and Disadvantages.........................................................3<br /> A. Advantages.......................................................…….................................................3<br /> B. Disadvantages.......................................................……...........................................4<br /> IV. Wind Energy Potentials in Saudi Arabia...........................4<br /> Conclusion ...................................................................................................................5<br /> Work Cited<br />Introduction<br /> What does wind energy mean? This what I will talk about in my research .It is strange item for many people .It is a replacement of our homes and cars expensive bill. Now, there is an economic crisis has been issued because and the prices is rising . It is very favored that we start searching for renewable resources that we can use . This will help us to save money and begin to focus on other issues like education . The report discusses the ability of wind energy to solve major issues facing the world like global warming and economic crises. It also discusses the potential use of wind energy in KSA in the future and the use of wind around the world. Some brief historical background is given. Then, wind turbines and the reasons which motivate us to use wind energy rather than fossil fuel are covered .By giving some examples of about it . I will also talk about the advantages and disadvantages of wind energy. <br />I. Background<br /> A. History<br /> People have harnessed the wind throughout history to convert wind energy into useable energy ( 1,1). Wind propelled boats in the Nile , pumped water in China and vertical-axis windmills were grinding grain in the Middle East. Finally, new forms of using wind to produce energy spread around the world. When colonizers invade China and Egypt , they carry this knowledge to the World Market and they begin to use wood blades turbine to pump the water from the wells to the homes and the farms ,and later , it was developed to recharge batteries and to generate electricity to the houses. Now, wind turbines are very trustful to save hundreds of dollars on the electric bill for the houses and companies owners. Today, hundreds of wind turbines combine together to form wind farms . <br /> <br /> B. Why wind energy ?<br /> According to Lester the global capability of natural gas is more than 2% followed by oil which is less than 2% and the coal less than 1% .Finally, nuclear generates 2% . We are in no danger of running out of coal and we could have as many nuclear stations as we like . However, burning coal is a leading cause of smog, acid rain, global warming, and air pollution . Also, nuclear power plants are so risky that many people question the wisdom of having more nuclear power and until now no body has a good solution for the long lasting radioactive nuclear waste. Moreover ,we spend money to make it safer more than what we spend to build new stations . <br /> <br /> <br /> C. wind Turbines.<br /> Wind Is turbines are devices which convert kinetic energy that comes from wind into useful forms of energy such as mechanical energy and electricity. There are two main kinds of turbines , horizontal and vertical axis (1,1). The popular one is the horizontal axis turbines (1,1) The reason of that is the wind is usually blow in horizontal direction which give more advantage to the horizontal blades to rotate. This will spin the main rotor in the turbine easy. <br />II. Use of wind energy in the world<br /> A. Farms <br /> Europe is leading the world into the age of wind energy .Nowadays , more than 25,000 wind farms are running throughout Europe, and the capacity is expected to double by 2015(4,2). Total wind capacity in Europe rose to 23% in 2006 compared to the last year ,which reaches 7588MW.This will provide electricity to almost all of the European regions ,because if we calculate electric capacity for Europe we will find that it needs about 7712 MW (3,1) . Denmark, Germany, and Spain are leading wind turbine business in Europe. Moreover , Germany and Spain own 50% of the European wind turbines market(4,1,). In 2006, Germany was the first market crossed 20,000 MW and Spain was the second market in the same year with 1587 MW . With 810 MW France is the third . Also, Portugal has capacity of 694MW. However, the Portuguese government is aimed to reach capacity of 3650 by 2010.With 634 MW the UK wind capacity increases to satisfy the residential electricity need (4,1). Now If the European Union rises in the same scale doing the next decade, they can be self sufficient on wind energy. One of the reasons to the reliance on wind energy in the European Union is the awareness of the risks of fusil energy and the scientific excellence in the engineering sector. <br />Total wind capacity in the United States is 23 time greater than the total consumption in 2005 by 84 % could produced from the onshore farms (3,2). The United States has enough wind resources to generate electricity for most rural areas and corporations in the nation. Although , the United State has grater area than Europe ; but not all these areas are appropriate for wind power advancement . The electricity programs administration's measures the potential wind energy resources of areas across the United States in order to determine perfect areas for project development .In 1991, they found that three states , North Dakota, Kansas, and Texas, had the ability to feed the U.S electricity demands(2,1) . Unfortunately, the U.S.is heavily depend on coal and this makes it one of the largest country produce greenhouse gas beside China (3,1,) and ( 2,2).<br />B. Buildings<br />The Bahrain World Trade Center (BWTC) is the first building to combine turbines into structure in the Arabian Gulf. BWTC is two towers sail shaped 42 storey rise to 240m . However , not the height of this building is what makes it unique, but the green technology that used in it. Is the first skyscraper in the world with three auto-mode 29m diameter horizontal-axis turbines depends in part on wind energy to generate power. Furthermore , BWTC is not just commercial building, it's also hotel and shopping mall located in Bahrain capital Manama. One major issues faced the designers is the wind variability, they solve this by design the towers in the shape of sails with large distance between the turbines to allow the air to pass easily. They are also built facing the coast to have the maximum appropriate conditions to generate almost the same power in each turbine. In the right conditions ,the turbines will run systematically when there is electricity demand in the building to provide about 1100~1300MWh this is about 11% to 15% of the office towers energy need. (6,1).Although the skyscraper will be destination for tourists, which increases the country's income.<br />III. Advantages and Disadvantages<br /> A. Advantages<br />There are countless advantages of wind power. Renewable energy controls the demand and use of fossil fuels and emits no air pollution of greenhouse gases (1,1). One of the causes of global warming and melting ice in the Arctic is increasing the proportion of green gases in the Erath ,which emitted from fossil plants which also cause damage to human health. Wind energy could decreases the damages if we start using it in large scale. In the United State wind power reduced the radiation of CO2 to 2.5 bilion pounds (1,1). Moreover, unlike other forms of electrical generation where fuel is send to a processing plant by heavy tracks wind is a natural fuel that does not need to be digs for. Since the eighties the wind electricity cost has dropped from 38cent /KWh to 4cent /KWh and by 2020 a lot of wind farms will deliver electricity at 2cent /KWh(2,2). In addition , the techniques which are used in the turbines are not complex ,so they can be manufactured in the developing countries like the Kingdom of the Saudi Arabia and some of the African countries . Also wind energy creates jobs which are needed by the society under the constant incensement of unemployed.<br />B. Disadvantages<br /> However, there are some disadvantages for wind energy, which may put end to its popularity. One major issue is the timing of winds which may not be practicable when there is demand (1,2).When the wind flow in the linear direction to the blendes it starts rotating to produce electricity .Moreover, the air above the ocean is not heated like the air above the land. Wind is created when the oceans cold air flow to the mainland to replace the warm air. Faster-moving will increases the pressure drop this will give more kinetic energy to the air to rotate the blades. However, this variability is balanced because the wind electricity is stored in batteries, so there is no actual changes in the power supply for the end users. Also, the electricity demand change each day. Another issue is that wind turbine construction can be very expensive because of the complex machines which used inside the turbine (1,2). However ,the wind farms will pay back the costs after they begin to generate electricity to the houses and farms .<br /> IV. Wind Energy Potentials in Saudi Arabia<br /> The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) is the largest Arab country in the Middle East . About 2,330,000 km2 out of 2,149,690km2 is desert and 100 % reliant on fossil fuels. Saudi Arabia is one of the countries that send the highest amount of greenhouse gases to the world in Middle East region. Using it is most abundant natural resource the Kingdom could invest in wind energy and conserve its oil resources. The country can be self-sufficient on wind power to generated electricity within the unpredictable future of oil sources . In Saudi Arabia, work on wind resource assessment dates back to 1970 when a wind atlas was developed by using wind speed data from 20 locations to calculate the cost and the capacity of three kinds of turbines 2500, 1300, and 600 kilowatt (5,2 ).These stations cover the whole east and west coasts also in the center .At most of the stations the power output was found to be between 2,000~3,500 MW for the 2500 turbine , the total capacity will be more than 60KWh when the cut-out speed was 25 m/s and the cut- in speed the minimum speed needed to move the blades is 3 m/s the cost is 1,969,000 US$ (5,3-4). Also there will be major advantages in the country such as pumping groundwater in the desert, clean air, power, clean water, land use, jobs, health care, waste disposal, and human security.<br />V. Conclusion <br />A study was released in 2009 from the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science shows that the key for pure energy is the wind .Also it suggests that wind may satisfy the whole world's present and future energy demands (3,1 ). When wind energy is produced at much larger scales, it becomes economically possible to provide electricity to all the nation . The energy produced from wind is a renewable energy less expensive and more promising compared to all other energy sources. Because it is cheap we can transfer it into hydrogen power by electrolyzing the water (2,2). An important solution to water shortage is desalination of ocean water, but the process of desalination consume large amounts of electric power . Moreover, China aimed to increase its electricity potential to 89% (3,2 ). China has now committed to significant reductions from coal In this report we discussed the potential of wind in some parts of the world . I think the next couple of decades are going to be very interesting. The fact that this can be very efficiently scaled would make a major difference to peoples’ lives. Now people can choose the method on how they want to power their homes .The expense of generating electricity from fossil fuels and nuclear power can change very much due to highly variable mining and transportation costs. Wind can hold these costs because the price of fuel is fixed and free.<br />Work Cited<br />ATKINS “BAHRAIN WORLD TRADE CENTER, BAHRAIN” Nova Award Nomination Jan 1st, 2009;1-2 Dec 30, 2010 <br />EWEA “European Market for Wind Turbines Grows 23% in 2006” NWEA 2006 ;1-2 Dec 20, 2010<br />Hance, Jeremy “Wind could power the entire world” Mongabay Website Jane 2nd, 2010;1-2 Dec 9th, 2010<br />Lester , Brown “Europe Leading World Into Age of Wind Energy” Plan B Updates April 8st, 2004;1-2 Dec 15th, 2010 <br />Nash , James “Advantages and Disadvantages of Wind Power.” Greatest Planet Website Jane 1st, 2010;1-3 Dec 15th, 2010<br />Rehman S. , Halawani T.O. and Mohandes M. “Wind power cost assessment at twenty locations in the kingdom of Saudi Arabia” Greatest Planet Website Feb 2nd, 2002;1-3 Dec 15th, 2010<br />Wind Turbine . Alternative Energy News. http://www.alternative-energy-news.info/technology/wind-power/wind-turbines/ Jan 8th , 2010<br />