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Wind is the affect of air in motion. Wind is caused when the sun shines and heats up the earth’s surface unevenly. Because the earth’s environment is made of different materials such as land and water, as well as the things that make up these surfaces like wood, metal, and glass, they absorb the sun’s heat many different rates.

During the daylight hours is when the air over the land heats up more rapidly, and the air over the water heats up at a slower rate. The warm air above the land swells and rises, and the cooler air quickly spills in to fill the gaps, this process creates the wind. When night comes, the winds turn course, because the air cools more rapidly over the land than it does over water.

Nowadays, we use the wind to create energy to produce electricity for homes, businesses or communities. Wind is an earth friendly renewable energy source; we know that as long as the sun shines on the earth the winds will continue to blow.

A lot like the windmills of yesteryear, wind machines that are in use today use blades to harness the wind’s energy. The reason that windmills work is because they harness the power of the wind to produce electricity. The wind machines of today also must have wind to work, so if the wind isn’t blowing there have to be other sources of power at the ready.

Turbines today can use a horizontal or vertical axis, though most are made with a horizontal axis. They also come in many different sizes depending on what they are meant to supply energy for. If it is for a home or small office the turbines will be about 20 feet or more and can put out about 1000 kilowatts. The larger ones can put out as much as 5 megawatts, and these are used for commercial purposes. You might see wind farms which are made up of the larger turbines, and these supply a grid which can power a whole community.

You will find that most turbines used today have a horizontal axis. They have blades that are made much like airplane propellers are. A horizontal turbine will typically stand about as tall as a 20 story building and will generally have three blades which can span as much as 200 feet.

One criticism of electric wind power is that the windmills necessary to generate power are massive and noisy. Their use is typically limited to remote areas of the countryside, where there is a greater expanse of open space and higher terrain. This makes their widespread use impractical for densely populated areas.

Is wind power the solution for everyone to be power self sufficient? Many parts of the world have enough consistent wind to make enough electricity to serve everyones requirements.