Man and Machine

The world is in the midst of an energy crisis.The craving for alternate sources of power has forced many governments across the world to provide funding for the same. In this era of depleting natural resources, wind power seems to garner a lot of interest.

Focussing on wind energy, one needs to impress upon this source's vast potentials. It is estimated that this energy source would provide 10 to 15 percent of the world's energy requirements in future.

U.S.A has vast amounts of land to install wind turbines or mills but what about smaller countries. How can they make optimum use of this energy for their needs? Smaller countries with large coastlines have a distinct advantage in that they can harness wind energy through the ocean. Off shore wind turbines installed in oceans is a relatively new field as compared to farm wind turbine. Wind farms on land can hinder the nearby residents and sensitive wild life as a result of their noise. Winds over the ocean are generally stronger.Why not move all the turbines to offshore areas?

Such is the demand for energy that the world would require both offshore and on shore wind farms.Also,wind farms provide significant economic development in the form of tax revenue to hard pressed rural communities and rent payments to farmers. Hence the on shore wind farms are also here to stay.

Off shore wind farms are not without its challenges.Much research needs to be done on the effects of wind farms on the ecological balance in the sea. One cannot compromise one part of nature for another. Recent articles state the efforts of NASA's QuikSCAT satellite which help in pointing out the different ocean areas where winds are most likely to produce energy. The different maps aid the scientists in developing new wind farms. A wind farm also demands a large coastline and shallow water. So countries which have these advantages need to be proactive and start researching more. Many countries in Europe have proposed many off shore wind farms as a result of their limited land space.

Wind farm installation cost increases with water depth and wave height and also cost increases as the wind farms are farther out to the sea. What about interference with shipping, fishing, and marine life? Well,wind farms would not find a place in busy shipping routes. In case of rough weather when ships are forced to change route, every wind turbine is equipped with a radar which gives out a warning signal to the ship. Not much evidence is there to support the fact that wind farms have an adverse effect on fishing. On the contrary, wind farms help in protecting the fishing industry. Many environmental groups believe that wind farms will provide welcome sanctuary for fish spawning as well as refuge from intense fishing activity.Wind turbines are also built in order to sustain the extreme wind conditions in case of storms at sea. If the wind speed crosses 50mph,the turbine automatically shuts down in order to avoid failure. Although construction of wind farms may cause disturbance to the marine life,it would last for a limited time of six months. During the operational period research shows the frequency of the sound of the wind turbine is too low to be heard by the marine life and hence would not cause any hindrance.

Overall,wind energy especially off shore wind farms promise much to the world in way of an efficient source of energy to support our planet.

The more we learn to save the better we can live.

As was quoted in Times once -"Don't blow it-good planets are hard to find".