In recent years people discovered the importance of renewable energy and the advantages of using them. One renewable energy source is the wind. There are many advantages to wind power such as wind turbines are relatively easy and cheap to build and maintain, they supply cheap electricity, and emit no Green house gases. Wind generated power has also decreased in cost over the last twenty years. Advances in new technology allow new wind power plants to generate electricity for less than five cents per kilowatt-hour, that’s an eighty percent decrease from the 1980s when wind power use to run for thirty cents/kWh (AmericanWind1). The new power plants can now offer power for a price, which can now compete with cheap power from coal-fired and nuclear power plants. There are also advantages to building large wind turbine instead of small ones. The fact is bigger wind turbines may cost more, however, they produce cheaper electricity, and cost less to maintain making them superior to smaller turbines. Since the larger turbines take up more space the question arises of where to put them, and where is the best location to maximize production. The answer is offshore, being offshore solves many of the simple problems people have with wind turbines. Problems such as noise and sight pollution. By being offshore the only people able to hear the turbines are fishermen, and with turbines being thirteen miles offshore (which is the horizon from sea-level) the turbines would appear as only dots. These wind turbines offshore would also create habitat for many aquatic animals, doubling its use as a sanctuary. Wind power is a great thing, seeing the wind is readily available it seems logical we should harvest whatever energy we can from this renewable resource. The environmental impact wind turbines have is well worth the cost, and with a small ecological footprint wind turbines can be located in just about anywhere.
American Wind Energy Association. Wind Web Tutorial. 1996-2009. 6 Dec. 2009. http://www.awea.org/faq/wwt_costs.html#top
