Wind Energy

In recent years, the growth of capacity to generate electricity from wind energy has been rapid, growing from almost none in 1980 to 11,603 megawatts (MW) in 2006 in the United States and about 60,000 MW in 2006 globally. Wind power is a source of renewable energy with conversion of wind energy into a form of energy, such as using wind turbines to make electricity. This means that its does not lead to a depletion of a global natural resource in the way like the burning of coal or gas results in reduced reserves.

Generation of electricity by wind energy has the potential to reduce environmental impacts caused by use of fossil fuels to generate electricity because, unlike fossil fuels, wind energy does not generate atmospheric contaminants or thermal pollution, thus being attractive to many governments, organizations, and individuals.

Others have focused on adverse environmental impacts of wind-energy facilities, which include aesthetic and other impacts on humans and effects on ecosystems, including the killing of wildlife, especially birds and bats. Some environmental effects of wind-energy facilities, especially those from transportation (roads to and from the plant site) and transmission (roads or clearings for transmission lines), are common to all electricity-generating plants; other effects, such as their aesthetic impacts, are specific to wind-energy facilities.

Though wind power is non-polluting, however the turbines may create a lot of noise, which indirectly contributes to noise pollution. Wind energy is requiring knowledge of the weather and wind conditions on long term basis. Also, the wind energy will have the risk associated with the reliability of the wind power resource available at a particular site and the risk attached to the use of wind power equipment.