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Harness The Wind for Nature's Sake

By: Alex Gwen Thomson

With the rising interest in environmental protection and conservation, it's time to look at alternative sources for home energy, specifically electricity. And that's where a wind generator can come in.

Wind generator's can provide you and your family with the electrical power your home needs (and more) with little impact on the environment. Using wind power to generate electricity can not only save you money on your utility bills, it's also a good way to "do your bit" for the planet, as well.

Everyone has heard of greenhouse gases, the greenhouse effect and global warming caused by the greenhouse effect. The most common greenhouse gas is carbon dioxide. CO2 is produced naturally by volcanic eruptions and decaying organic material, but not in harmful amounts. Burning fossil fuels like coal and natural gas to produce electricity releases tons of gases like CO2 into the atmosphere. Wind energy produces no harmful CO2 to get trapped in the atmosphere. Trees and other plants absorb CO2 naturally and recycle it back in oxygen. Using a wind generator to produce electricity can significantly reduce the amount of carbon dioxide in the air, and also save an acre or more of trees the work of recycling it.

Sulfur dioxide is produced by burning fossil fuels, too. Sulfur dioxide combines with other compounds in the atmosphere and is then responsible for acid rain, scientists believe. Acid rain causes crop damage, building damage, and water and ground pollution. Using a wind generator to produce your home's electricity can help reduce SO2 emissions, too.

Wind energy is renewable energy. Every day, the earth's heating and cooling generates wind power. Coal and natural gas are not renewable energy. A wind generator can reduce the use of coal needed to generate electricity. One block of wind power (1/4 of a home's energy needs) can save as a much as 2,000 pounds of coal. Besides saving the ton of coal required to produce your electricity, you are also saving the energy required to produce that ton of coal. Wind power is then significantly the better environmental source of electrical energy than coal.

Wind energy is kinder to the land itself. An environmental footprint is the amount of land used by something. That "something" can be a building or structure, pipeline, road or any other man-made object. A wind turbine uses very little land, leaving a minimal footprint. As much as 99% of your backyard will still be usable, for example. Compare that to the amount of land used by conventional coal powered electricity - land used for mining the coal, for transporting the coal, the land under and around the power plant, and the land under and around the transmission lines that bring the power to your home. Acres and acres of land are required to produce one hour of coal-generated electricity, as opposed to a small bit of clear ground used for a wind generator tower.

Speaking of the tower, producing the equipment used to generate wind energy is cheaper and easier on the environment than conventional power generating equipment. Most of the energy consumed in making wind energy equipment is in the turbine and battery processes. Only one -third is used to produce the tower and the concrete to set the tower in place. A wind turbine can recover the energy used to produce it in a year or less.

Compared to other energy-saving, environmentally-friendly efforts, producing your own electrical power through use of a wind generator can have a much greater impact. Walking, biking, carpooling and taking mass transit save 20 pounds of CO2 for every one gallon of gasoline saved. That same one block of wind power mentioned before can save 249 pounds of CO2 a month. Wind power electricity offsets the CO2 you produce when you drive your car 2,900 miles.

Recycling is another way that most people generally think of to help the environment. If you recycled every bit of glass, cardboard, paper and plastic possible for a year, you'd cut CO2 emissions by 850 pounds or so. Producing your own wind generated electricity can cut those same emissions by more than 3,000 pounds in that same year's span of time. To truly compare recycling to wind energy, one block of wind energy saves the same carbon dioxide emissions as recycling 7,000 aluminum cans. Wind energy is clearly a more efficient way to contribute to the planet's health than recycling.

One last thing about wind energy - most homeowners produce more than they need. This excess energy can be funneled back into the grid system, thereby reducing someone else's need to depend on coal-produced electricity. So, your wind tower could actually help your neighbor help the environment, too.

Wind energy is, by far, much better for the environment than coal-produced energy. Creating your own electricity can have a much broader, bigger impact on environmental conservation than most other steps you can take. With the planet in serious need of everyone's help, wind energy is a viable, affordable, effective way to "do your part."

Article Source: http://familygardenhome.com

ARI Green Energy is a manufacturer of wind generator technologies. Visit www.arigreenenergy.com/ today for a full line of wind turbines and solar technology solutions. Think green.

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