Sunday, May 17, 2009

Robots to maintain wind farms

Renewable wind energy has always been there to fulfill the energy needs of the nations of the world. Traditionally wind energy was used to grind grains. The modern world uses the renewable wind energy mainly for electricity generation. The use of wind turbines is the most popular method of generating electricity from wind renewable energy and this electricity can be used as an alternative power source for domestic purposes. This can be done to reduce the amount of electricity bills by a significant amount. To generate electricity for commercial use, wind farms with a large number of wind turbines need to be set up. However, maintaining a wind farm effectively is a challenging issue because it requires a lot of manpower and a lot of expenses are incurred for this.

Innovations have been made in technologies to invent robots that have the ability to maintain the large wind farms eliminating the need of men. Although this invention will result in loss of employment opportunities for people, yet the cost effectiveness and convenience of managing wind farms using robots cannot be overlooked.

Responsibility for maintaining and managing the renewable wind energy generators will rest on the shoulders of the robots at all times. The operation and processes that need to be performed for the generation of electricity will be managed by robots. They will also be responsible for inspecting the movement of rotor blades and ensuring that the blades rotate in the right direction so that they can capture sufficient wind renewable energy. They will also be responsible for repairing any damaged parts.

Thursday, May 14, 2009

Wind power cars

Wind as a renewable alternative energy source possesses kinetic energy which can be harnessed in many ways to convert it to usable forms of energy. Wind power is the useful form of energy so obtained that can be used for various purposes. The main uses of wind power are generation of electricity, grinding of grains and powering saw mills. With the advancement in technologies in recent times, wind renewable power has been used for more sophisticated purposes. It has been used to power vehicles. Automobiles like cars, airplanes, trains etc. can now run on wind power smoothly and efficiently.

The cars that run on wind renewable power use a solar power battery for starting up initially. The battery then switches over to running on circulating air. Four air intakes are incorporated in the car’s body that runs on wind renewable power. The purpose of the air intakes is to control the air flow from the car’s body to the wind turbines. In a wind renewable power car, the turbine is concealed within the body of the car and is connected to an alternator. The air rotates the turbine which generates an electric current which is passed onto the alternator and converted to power that runs the car. The material used in manufacturing the car is lightweight aluminum and strong steel. The car runs at great speeds but is expensive.

There are several advantages of using a wind renewable power car. The car does not require any burning of fuels and therefore causes no pollution. It is also easy and convenient to handle.

Tuesday, May 12, 2009

Uses of wind energy

The energy that is obtained from the blowing wind is called renewable wind energy. The renewable wind energy can be harnessed in several different ways and put to use in many practical applications.

The first use of renewable wind energy was made in transportation. Primitive sail boats made from woven mats were propelled by the blowing wind. Renewable wind energy is used in modern sail boats as well that have light weight sails that work like aircraft wings and can be moved in the desired direction. Another traditional use of wind energy is pumping water and grinding grains. Machines called windmills captured wind renewable energy and used it to pump water in rural areas and also generate electricity that could be used as an alternative power source. Traditionally, windmills were also used to drive or turn heavy granite disks crushed dried grains like wheat and corn to make flour.

The most important use of renewable wind energy is the generation of electricity by using modern machines called wind turbines. Wind turbines have a shaft that is connected to an electrical generator. The renewable wind energy rotates the shaft of the turbine and this converts the mechanical energy into electrical energy. Wind energy can also be used as an alternative power resource to generate electricity for commercial purposes.

However, renewable wind energy is not being used to its full potential because not many know of the benefits of using this renewable energy source. Therefore, new technologies must be developed so that maximum benefits can be obtained from wind energy.

Wednesday, May 6, 2009

Alternative energy resources

The use of alternative energy resources is made in place of fossil fuels and other traditional sources of energy. The most commonly and popularly used alternative energy sources are solar energy, wind energy, tidal energy, ocean thermal energy and hydropower.

Renewable alternative energy is available in the form of solar energy which is the energy obtained from the sun. It is considered to be the most important source of alternative energy. It is believed that the sun will exist for ever and thus provide energy for a millions of years. Efficient and low cost techniques are yet not available to harness solar energy.

Another green renewable source of alternative energy is the wind energy which is available as the kinetic energy of the wind. The energy of the wind is used to produce electricity that can be put to a number of uses. An alternative energy store needs to be created for wind because wind is an unreliable source of energy. But creating a large alternative energy store for wind energy is expensive.

A less common alternative energy resource is the wave energy that is the energy obtained from waves. This energy is used to generate electricity by running turbines.

Tidal power is the alternative energy that can be harnessed from tides. It is an alternative energy resource that is used for the production of electricity. Harnessing tides is very difficult and expensive and so this resource is not used much.

Alternative energy sources have a great potential if used properly. They can be used for substantial development.