Blown by the Wind: Advantages and Disadvantages of the Wind Power
During last several years, the popularity of the wind energy is beating all records. At the beginning of 2016, the general capacity of wind power stations was higher than that of nuclear power stations. Though, fewer people in Ukraine can afford to generate energy from wind.
At the first glance, the wind represents the essence of freedom from nonrenewable and expensive sources of energy such as oil and gas. Certainly, it’s an advantage. Nevertheless, despite all its pros, such type of energy has several cons, which hamper its rapid advancement.
Advantages of the wind energy
No environmental pollution
The application of the wind energy drastically diminishes the environmental pollution. Traditional energy sources don’t provide such opportunities. Wind energy doesn’t have any hidden risks which, for instance, are inherent in nuclear fuel and doesn’t contribute to the global warming.
Furthermore, the use of wind power instead of energy generated by thermal power stations diminishes the greenhouse gas emission, and thus preserves the ozone layer.
This energy source will be available for centuries ahead
The wind power is fully renewable. It’s almost impossible that one day the wind will completely disappear. Traditional sources, are on the contrary limited and will disappear sooner or later. Every year their reserves used for the power generation decrease, so we have to search for the alternative solutions.
The wind is available all over the world
Allows to manage land resources reasonably Â
The population of deserted and rocky regions can benefit from wind and get additional revenue by selling the surplus of generated energy to other countries as they have stronger winds. Another advantage is that land plots unsuitable for agricultural activities and construction of housing can be used for installation of wind power stations. It will contribute to better land resources management. Â
The wind energy is very cheap and decreases the reliance on traditional energy sources
Compared to other alternative energy sources wind power stations decrease the dependence of companies and households from the monopoly of oil companies, as they increase the level of competition which is beneficial for the end consumers.
Furthermore, within the last couple of years, the efficiency of wind turbines increased, which improved the power generation process.
Lack of wind energy
High initial prices of wind power stations prevent buyers from purchasing them
The current price of the wind power generator in Ukraine is 100’000 UAH. For this price, you will get only a generator without additional special equipment such as a battery, torque converter, and a power station. This is the key stumbling block for those opting for the future independent from oil and gas.
Wind power stations produce a lot of noise
Wind turbines produce noise equal to the noise of the car cruising at 70 km/h. It creates discomfort for people and deters animals. Thus, it’s unreasonable to install wind power stations close to the house while in order to place it within a certain distance, you need to have a big land plot. Â
Some people call them “aesthetic monsters”
Some people complain that wind power stations look terrible and can spoil any landscape view. As a rule, these stations are located somewhere in the open fields and instead of enjoying picturesque views people have to observe the movement of huge blades. At the same time, there are people who really enjoy the urbanistic design of wind power stations.
Wind power stations are also dangerous for birds
Rotating blades of wind power generators pose a potential threat to some animal species. According to the available data, blades of every installed turbine cause death of at least 4 birds per year.
At the same time, the probability of a bird getting trapped between turbine blades is the same as the probability of a bird hitting the high-voltage power line.
They produce less energy
Today, the renewable energy including the hydraulic power energy constitutes around 7% of the general energy output produced in Ukraine.
The wind power isn’t a persistent variable. Traditional energy allows to maintain the permanent outgoing power output, while the wind power output is highly reliant on weather conditions. It means that you can’t fully rely on wind power and have to use additional energy sources.