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One wind turbine can power up to 500 homes in a short period of time. Most wind energy come from European countries  because of their favorable climate conditions. Unlike some other forms of energy, wind energy doesn't use any water to produce the energy.

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Wind energy is made up of these three concurrent events, the sun unevenly heating the atmosphere, irregularities of the earth's surface like earthquakes, volcanos, hurricanes etc., and the rotation of the earth. Wind turbines can be very expensive, that is why they don't have them in many places, not a lot of people can afford it.

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Wind is a form of solar energy caused by a combination of three concurrent events:

1. The sun unevenly heating the atmosphere

2. Irregularities of the earth's surface

3. The rotation of the earth.

Wind flow patterns and speeds vary greatly across the United States and are modified by bodies of water, vegetation, and differences in terrain. Humans use this wind flow, or motion energy, for many purposes: sailing, flying a kite, and even generating electricity.

The terms "wind energy" and "wind power" both describe the process by which the wind is used to generate mechanical power or electricity. This mechanical power can be used for specific tasks (such as grinding grain or pumping water) or a generator can convert this mechanical power into electricity.

A wind turbine turns wind energy into electricity using the aerodynamic force from the rotor blades, which work like an airplane wing or helicopter rotor blade. When wind flows across the blade, the air pressure on one side of the blade decreases. The difference in air pressure across the two sides of the blade creates both lift and drag. The force of the lift is stronger than the drag and this causes the rotor to spin. The rotor connects to the generator, either directly (if it's a direct drive turbine) or through a shaft and a series of gears (a gearbox) that speed up the rotation and allow for a physically smaller generator. This translation of aerodynamic force to rotation of a generator creates electricity.

Types of Wind Turbines

The majority of wind turbines fall into two basic types:

When wind turbines of any size are installed on the "customer" side of the electric meter, or are installed at or near the place where the energy they produce will be used, they're called "distributed wind.

Many turbines used in distributed applications are small wind turbines. Single small wind turbines-below 100 kilowatts-are typically used for residential, agricultural, and small commercial and industrial applications.

Small turbines can be used in hybrid energy systems with other distributed energy resources, such as microgrids powered by diesel generators, batteries, and photovoltaics.

These systems are called hybrid wind systems and are typically used in remote, off-grid locations( where a connection to the utility grid is not available) and are becoming more common in grid-connected applications for resiliency.

Learn more about distributed wind from the Distributed Wind Animation or read about what the Wind Energy Technologies Office is doing to support the deployment of distributed wind systems for homes, businesses, farms, and community wind projects.

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Learn the basics of how wind turbines operate to produce clean power from an abundant, renewable resource-the wind.

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Wind Energy Facts

Enjoy a range of interesting wind energy facts which help explain how we use wind power to create electricity and other useful forms of energy.

Learn how long humans have been using windmills, how big wind turbines can be, how much of the world's electricity is generated from wind power and much more.

Wind power involves turning energy from the wind into other forms of useful energy.

Wind power can be harnessed in a number of different ways. For example, windmills create mechanical energy, sails move boats and wind turbines generate electricity.

Windmills have been around for a long time, they were used in Persia (Iran) as far back as 200 B.C.

Wind energy is clean and renewable.

Large groups of wind turbines are called wind farms.

Around 80 different countries use wind power to generate electricity commercially (as of 2009).

In 1997 wind power generated only 0.1% of the world's electricity, this increased to 1.5% in 2008 and 2.5% in 2010.

In some countries such as Denmark and Portugal, wind power contributes around 20% of the total electricity production.

The large blades of wind turbines can interfere with some radar systems used by weather stations or air traffic controls, at times being mistaken for planes or various weather patterns.

Smaller turbines are sometimes used to charge batteries or as backup power in caravans and sailing ships.

Modern wind turbines usually have 3 blades which can reach speeds at the tip of over 320 kph (200 mph).

The tips of large wind turbines can reach heights up to 200 m (650ft).

Wind turbines can even be installed offshore on floating structures, sending the electricity generated back to land with the help of undersea cables.

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Wind Energy Facts - Using Wind Power to Create Electricity

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Wind Energy Facts Enjoy a range of interesting wind energy facts which help explain how we use wind power to create electricity and other useful forms of energy. Learn how long humans have been using windmills, how big wind turbines can be, how much of the world's electricity is generated from wind power and much more.

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Smaller turbines are sometimes used to charge batteries or as backup power in caravans and sailing ships. More up to date wind turbines usually have 3 blades which can reach speeds at the top of over 200 mph. The tips of large wind turbines can reach heights up to 200 m (650ft). Wind turbines can even be installed offshore on floating structures, sending the electricity all the way back to land with the help of undersea cables.

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The large blades of wind turbines can interfere with some radar systems used by weather stations or air traffic controls, at times being mistaken for planes or different weather patterns. They can also hit birds or other animals flying or even gliding by the windmills.

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Windmills are some of the most popular way to make wind energy, they were made in persia and have been around all the way since the 200 B.C's. And still working perfectly fine!

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Around 80 companies are using windmills and have been as of 2009. In 1997 wind power generated only 0.1% of the world’s electricity, this percentage increased to 1.5% in 2008, and 2.5% in 2010.

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Wind energy involves turning energy from the wind into other useful types of energy. Wind power can be harnessed in a number of different ways. For example windmills create mechanical energy,  sails move boats, and wind turbines generate electricity.