Windmill energy combines the beauty of traditional mills with advanced technology to generate clean, reliable power. It’s one of the world’s cheapest, most efficient, and most sustainable energy sources. But, as with any energy source, it faces challenges.
Wind turbines catch the wind’s energy with propeller-like blades. They can have a horizontal axis, like an eggbeater or fan, or vertical, as on the large windmills that once populated farms. A small windmill on a farm can only make a little electricity, enough to run a few household appliances; to produce power for a whole town, utility companies build groups of larger machines called wind farms.
Today’s wind turbines can be as tall as a skyscraper and weigh more than 1,000 tons. They are connected by shafts to a generator, which converts the spinning blades’ mechanical energy into electrical energy. The electric power from these turbines is fed into the national grid system to help meet electricity needs and replace fossil fuels in homes, businesses, factories, and schools.
People in western Asia built the earliest known windmills more than 1,000 years ago to grind grain and pump water. By the 1100s, they were a common sight on farms. Modern wind turbines, now called wind farms, are much more powerful and can make enough electricity to power entire communities.
As wind energy becomes more widespread, some people object to the noise and visual impact of the massive structures. They also fear that the wind farms will harm their property values and health. These objections often stem from misinformation. For example, some people believe that wind turbines cause low frequency infrasound, a sound that can make animals and humans uncomfortable. Others worry about shadow flicker, the moving shadows and strobing sunlight that wind turbines cast on buildings and landscapes.
The good news is that science and technology can reduce these concerns, making wind a more palatable energy resource for many Americans. For instance, engineers have developed new materials and designs to make the moving parts in wind turbines quieter and less obtrusive. They have also studied trees to learn how they move in the wind and have started to think about how to make artificial “wind-harvesting” systems that would be more aesthetically pleasing and easier to use in places with complex airflows, such as cities.
Despite these advances, it is still a challenge for wind energy to become mainstream, because it relies on a mix of government, local, and private funding to finance projects that can meet ambitious installation targets set by governments around the world. At the same time, wind manufacturers are facing soaring commodity, energy, and transport prices, as well as supply-chain disruptions caused by Russia’s war against Ukraine. As a result, some of the world’s largest wind-turbine manufacturers have made cumulative losses since 2021. This is a major obstacle to meeting future demand for renewable energy. Nonetheless, a strong movement toward using more clean, affordable, and sustainable wind energy is underway.