Wind power fundamentals and applications

An increase in the demand of energy has risen dramatically in the past few decades since the industrial revolution, and also due to the earth’s growing population. Currently the most dominant source of energy usage is fossil fuels. This non-renewable resource will be depleted if we continue our energy usage trends over the next century. Furthermore burning of these fuels emits greenhouse gases into the environment, thus contributes to global warming. New sources of renewable energy must be developed in order to meet our world’s demands in energy. Renewable energy sources are readily available such as wind, hydro, solar, biomass, and more. The technology for harvesting these sources have been in development for many years and the awareness for it has gradually increased. Within the past two decades has nations been investing heavily into these sources. Wind energy been harvested and used for many decades. An example of a machine that converts this energy into mechanical energy is the windmill. They have been developed for milling grain, pumping water, and other uses. Wind turbines have been used to generate electricity over a century ago, but today the technology has advanced to a level where they can be installed offshore and operate on a massive scale to feed a nation’s electricity demand. We can see leading nations striving for renewable energy systems as a way to sustain our planet. This report will focus on wind energy and how the energy is converted into electricity, as well as different types of wind turbine configurations, the economics and future growth as well as the environmental concerns related to it.Applied Science, Faculty ofElectrical and Computer Engineering, Department ofUnreviewedUndergraduat