Wind
Powering America
windpoweringamerica.gov
Wind Powering America is
a commitment to dramatically
increase the use of wind
energy in the United States.
Through its state Wind
Working Groups, programs at
the National Renewable
Energy Laboratory, and
partnerships, this
initiative will establish
new sources of income for
American farmers, Native
Americans, and other rural
landowners and meet the
growing demand for clean
sources of electricity.
Wind has been the fastest
growing source of
electricity generation in
the world through the 1990s.
However, the majority of
this growth has been in
Europe, where conventional
energy costs are higher than
those in the United States.
With large untapped wind
energy resources throughout
the country and declining
wind energy costs, the
United States is now moving
forward into the 21st
century with an aggressive
initiative to accelerate the
progress of wind technology
and further reduce its
costs, to create new jobs,
and to improve environmental
quality. Wind Powering
America will expedite the
movement of wind technology
into the mainstream of the
U.S. electric sector.
Through Wind Powering
America, the United States
will achieve targeted
regional economic
development, enhance our
power generation options,
protect the local
environment, and increase
our energy and national
security.
Wind Turbine Technician
Careers & Salary
The growing demand for wind energy has created the need for highly
skilled wind turbine technicians. The
technician must use computers, have an understanding of hydraulics,
electricity and meteorology. Although many wind turbine technicians have experience as a welder, many
wind technicians
complete two-year education programs in wind technology. The Wind
Technician must work
250 feet above the ground. Travel is often a big part of the job.
Based on current positions, wind turbine
technicians
earn $17.00 to $27.00 per hour.
Wind turbine
A wind turbine is
a rotating machine which
converts the
kinetic energy
in
wind into
mechanical energy.
If the mechanical energy
is used directly by
machinery, such as a
pump or grinding stones,
the machine is usually
called a
windmill. If
the mechanical energy is
then converted to
electricity,
the machine is called a
wind generator,
wind turbine,
wind power unit (WPU),
wind energy converter
(WEC), or
aerogenerator
Wind power
Wind
power is the conversion of wind
energy into a useful form, such as
electricity, using
wind turbines.
At the end of 2008, worldwide
nameplate
capacity of wind-powered
generators was 120.8
gigawatts.[1]
Wind
energy has historically been used
directly to propel
sailing ships
or converted into mechanical energy
for pumping water or grinding grain,
but the principal application of
wind power today is the generation
of electricity. Large scale
wind farms
are typically connected to the local
electric power
transmission network,
with smaller turbines being used to
provide electricity to isolated
locations. Utility companies
increasingly
buy back
surplus electricity
produced by small domestic turbines.
Wind energy as a power source is
favoured by many
environmentalists as an
alternative to
fossil fuels,
as it is plentiful,
renewable,
widely distributed, clean, and
produces lower
greenhouse gas
emissions, although the
construction of wind farms is not
universally welcomed due to their
visual impact and other
effects on the
environment. The
intermittency
of wind seldom creates problems when
using wind power to supply a low
proportion of total demand. Where
wind is to be used for a moderate
fraction of demand, additional costs
for compensation of intermittency
are considered to be modest.[2]
From Wikipedia, the free
encyclopedia
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