On World Wind Day... What is wind energy? And what are its features?

Weather of Arabia - On June 15 of each year, the world celebrates World Wind Day, which highlights the importance of wind and its potential as a huge source of renewable energy.

This day was initially announced by the European Wind Energy Association (EWEA) in 2007, later in 2009, the European Wind Energy Union has collaborated with the Global Wind Energy Council (GWEC) and since 2009 it has been celebrated as a global event.

How is wind used as a renewable energy source?

There are two types of energy sources used in the world, which are:

• Non-renewable energy sources: These are non-recoverable, such as oil, natural gas, coal and nuclear energy.
• Renewable energy sources: sustainable energy   Such as solar energy, hydro energy, wind energy, tidal energy, and geothermal energy (heat from within the earth).

We are aware of the fact that as the population of the earth increases, the demand for energy is increasing, so the global focus on increasing the capacity of renewable energy sources and wind energy is one of the options to cover the world's growing energy need.

The abundant wind can be used by wind turbines; It is a device that converts wind energy into electricity, through the establishment of wind power stations in areas far from densely populated areas such as coastal and desert areas.

How is wind generated?

Wind is the movement of large amounts of air, which consists of particles of different types of gases (such as water vapor, nitrogen, and oxygen), and when this amount of particles moves, it is usually in one direction, we call this "wind".

Where does the wind come from and what is the reason for its occurrence?

• Winds are caused by the pressure difference within the Earth's atmosphere. Air from high pressure areas moves towards low pressure areas, and strong winds occur when air moves between areas between which there are large differences in air pressure.
• Air moves due to the difference in temperature. Cold air causes high air pressure and warm air causes low air pressure. Warm air rises because its density decreases, and when warm air rises, cold air moves in and replaces it, causing winds.
• The rotation of the planet also affects the movement of the winds, and this is called the "Coriolis effect".
• Topography. Land formations such as mountains, valleys, lakes, and deserts can also affect air movement, wind speed and direction.

Importance of World Wind Day

Today, most of our energy needs are met by fossil fuels, which when burned release huge amounts of greenhouse gases (such as carbon dioxide) into the Earth's atmosphere. These greenhouse gases warm the Earth and cause global warming.

With the exacerbation of the climate crisis, World Wind Day is an attempt to spread awareness about the uses, power and potential of wind energy to reshape the world's energy system, and it is an effective option to reduce carbon emissions and save the world from climate change.

Advantages of wind energy

Here are some of the most important advantages of wind energy:

• Wind energy is environmentally friendly and a source of clean fuel, does not cause harmful emissions and does not disturb the ecological balance.
• Wind energy is cost effective.
• Wind energy is abundant and always available.

Disadvantages of wind power:

Although wind power plants have a relatively small impact on the environment compared to conventional power plants, there are some minor drawbacks:

• The turbines may cause some noise.
• Aesthetic pollution and visual effects on the landscape of the region.
• Wind farms can affect local wildlife, such as killing birds that fly inside the blades of a rotating turbine.

Most of these problems have been resolved or greatly reduced through technology development or by properly locating wind stations, and research is ongoing to develop and improve solutions to reduce the impact of wind turbines on wildlife.

wind turbines work

The principle on which wind turbines operate is to use wind energy to move fans in the turbine in order to generate electricity. When the wind rotates the blades of the turbine around the axis, it rotates the generator that produces electricity.

There are now two types of wind turbines; Vertical axis turbines have three blades and operate upwind with the blades facing the wind, and horizontal axis turbines are multi-directional and require no adjustments.