Interesting Wind Power Facts - Compare to Coal and Oil Facts

By S. G. Fegan

One of the reasons wind power is being pushed by the environmentalists as one of the best substitutes for petroleum products is that you can find it everywhere, just walk outdoors and you have wind. It is an instant renewable resource at your fingertips. Other interesting wind power facts that provide even better reasons are that it is clean, no by-products, fewer green house emissions.

For some reason people would prefer to have thousands of tons of coal being burned sending carbon emissions into the atmosphere and buying even thousands of barrels of oil mostly from foreign countries who can jack up the price at will. They would prefer this than to having windmill farms in open areas nearby. They claim they are worried about the effect on the environment! The energy used to build these thing is minimal compared to what is being burned each day!

In that vein, here are some interesting wind power facts that demonstrate how much:

• A kilowatt-hour is how much electrical energy is used in one hour at the constant rate of one kilowatt. An average home in the United States will use about 8,900 kilowatt-hours of electricity each year. A 1 megawatt (1 million kW) wind turbine, will provides energy to 650 households.
• In order to get the same 1MW of power that a giant wind turbine produces over 20 years it would take 92,000 barrels of oil, or 29,000 tons of coal.
• Another example of would be the fact that in 2006 in the U.S. as a whole, the wind energy capacity was just shy of 12,000MW. In order to get the same amount of electricity you would be burning 15 million tons of coal!
• You can see why it is surprising anyone would prefer using all that oil and coal when 1 wind turbine on a wind farm can give you the same amount for only the initial cost of installation.
• To make it seem real, wind power can also be used by individuals in the home with smaller wind turbines that range from 5 kW to 15kW. These can be bought through professional renewable energy companies or do-it-yourself kits can be bought to make it a fun project to try at home.
• Most power companies are even willing to buy back any extra electrical energy that was produced by a wind turbine, which can create an even greater savings and contribute to their use of renewable energy.

These are just a few of the interesting wind power facts that might interest anyone looking to add renewable energy resources to their home. Several states, like California and Texas have made great stride in reducing their need of coal and petroleum by producing a capacity of 7000+ MW by wind, and increasing these number each year.

S. G. Fegan maintains a website Cool Energy Projects where you can read more interesting wind power facts, and details on how to bring other sources of renewable energy into your home. Be sure to find access to the Free Renewable Energy and Other Money Saving Secrets For Your Home. Visit http://www.coolenergyprojects.com/ to learn about fun diy projects you could start this weekend!

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