Abstract:
As modern world continually seeks for more energy sources, renewable energy such as wind energy is the best answer to today’s energy need. Knowing the effects of different variables on the efficiency of energy generation in a wind turbine helps sustainability to economy and environment. To find out the effect of blade length in a wind turbine on outcome electric power, a small experiment was done to indicate the most efficient blade length in a turbine. To achieve the results, 6 different blade lengths were cut out of cardboard. Then the blades were attached to a disc which joined the stellar wind motor. A stellar fan was place in front of the blades which was the wind source. The voltage and current were measured by voltmeter and ammeter. The power was calculated by multiplying voltage and current. The achieved results proved that it is not always the longer blades which produce the most power, but it is the blade’s size proportion to other parts and its lift/drag ratio. The significance of achieved results, are represented in today’s wind turbines and how they operate efficiently with appropriate blade size.
Background knowledge:
As the population increases and due to industrial growth, the global consumption will be doubled by 2020. Today as fossil fuels are the main source of energy production; it produces over 90% of world’s energy production and over 65% of US electricity production (Heatherton, 2003.) In comparison to fossil fuel production, renewable total energy production is less than 5% in world (Richardson, 2010). Fossil fuels are easy to find, generate large amounts of electricity in a single location and their transportation is easy. In spite of these advantages, they have increased the amount of greenhouse gases mostly CO2, and toxic gases like sulphur dioxide as industrial countries increase their fossil fuel consumption. Due to increase in amount of CO2 in last few decades, the global temperature has risen rapidly which is known as global warming. The reason behind this is the increase of carbon dioxide in atmosphere, which traps sun’s heat alongside industrial greenhouse gases production in atmosphere. While fossil fuel consumption has affected the environmental conditions such as global climate change, loss of species habitats, rise of sea levels, acid rains and destruction of wide areas of land by mining, renewable energy has the advantage, such as lack of greenhouse effect and fossil fuel savings. Apart of sustainability of renewable sources, they have less impact on the environment while as wind power, solar energy and thermal power can take hold of reasonable amount of global energy consumption. In spite of renewable energy advantages, it can’t replace large amount of electricity generation by fossil fuels unless more energy facilities get constructed which costs a lot. Renewable energy is relied on weather condition (sun shine, rain, wind), therefore in absence of these energy sources, the energy production decreases and this can be unpredictable and inconsistent.
Many factors such as geographical situation, budget and type of usage affect which renewable energy source to use. Solar panels and wind turbines both cost a lot, but they have their own advantages and disadvantages. For instance solar panels require less monitoring than wind turbines. They also take less space than wind turbines. But their problem is that they only operate in sunny conditions. Wind turbines have been more efficient in energy production with new technology. They can operate in many regions, such as country sides and coastlines. They are also in different sizes to cover different population levels. They have the disadvantage of producing not enough energy as fossil fuels. Therefore
