Monday June 15 marks the first ever Global Wind Day and will be celebrated in 30 countries. It is being organized by the Global Wind Energy Council (GWEC), the awareness campaign for the promotion of wind energy worldwide gives the public an opportunity to show its support for wind energy, celebrate wind power as a near-term solution to global climate change, and highlight jobs and other economic benefits that wind energy investment is bringing to local their communities.

“In the United States, Global Wind Day comes at a time when the nation is surging forward in wind and renewable energy development, but risks loosing this momentum and leaving tens of thousands of jobs on the cutting room floor if we do not adopt a strong renewable energy policy,” said Denise Bode, CEO of the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA). “America trails China and Europe in passing renewable energy policy commitments.  It’s time for a national renewable electricity standard (RES) here in the U.S. to seize this historic opportunity to create jobs, build up our renewable energy industry, and fight climate change.”

The day will be marked by events around the world. In the U.S., AWEA is asking those in the industry and the public at large to call on representatives in Congress to support a stronger national renewable portfolio standard (RPS).

AWEA is also organizing a visual petition. Wind energy supporters can submit a photo or a comment that shows how wind energy is making a difference today.

There will be events around the world, including tweet-ups, marches, wind farm open houses, public demonstrations, training events and much more.

Wind can be an awesome force of nature, just ask anyone who has been in a tornado or powerful hurricane. We can harness this wind for the use of generating electricity for our world. When the sun shines it heats the earth, but since the earth is made of different materials and is of differing heights and valleys it heats unevenly, especially over land and water.

Daytime is when the air above the land heats up more quickly, and it heats the air over water more slowly. Warm air that is above the land expands and rises, and cooler air quickly comes in to fill the gaps, and this creates wind. In the evening, the winds reverse, because air cools more quickly over land than over water. This is why you have the differing temperatures of land near bodies of water.

Today as we look for new ways to power the earth, it is a natural thing to look at wind power. It has been used for many years to power simple machines of the past. Wind is another type of renewable energy, which makes it a renewable energy source. In years past we used windmills, the wind machines of today are called turbines.

Read the rest of this entry

In a time when energy dependency on foreign countries is straining domestic politics around the world, many countries are looking to offshore wind farms as a possibility. Great Britain and the United States are just two of those countries investing money and time into researching the option of using wind generated power to supplement their countries’ power consumption.

Offshore wind farms are literally farms of large wind turbines lined in rows much like an agricultural fruit or nut farm. The turbines are placed in relatively shallow water close to shore to minimize costs and allow a connection with land power lines to deliver the energy. Onshore wind generating power farms already populate rural plains in the United States. California has had wind farms for over 30 years. The power generated by wind is an addition to other sources of power, because wind on land is intermittent it is not ideal for complete power production.

Great Britain plans to have the country powered by wind energy by 2020. This would be possible in major part to the topography of the ocean floor surrounding Great Britain. The floor is shelved and shallow making the cost of installing turbines manageable. The ideal spot for an offshore wind farm in the United States would be Cape Cod. The pacific coast of the United States is steep and treacherous making onshore wind farms a better option.

Read the rest of this entry