Wind Energy: An Overview

Currently the world’s fastest growing renewable power source, wind energy is the transformation of the wind’s kinetic force into mechanical power through a turbine. The mechanical power can be used for such tasks as grinding grain or pumping water, or converted into electricity through a generator for use by homes and businesses.

“[Though] only about five countries in the world produce nearly three quarters of all the wind power, with the growth rate that we are seeing [wind power] is the fastest growing energy source in the world,” according to Joseph Florence of the Earth Policy Institute in Washington. “A decade ago, wind energy stood at 5,000 megawatts so that 60,000 megawatts of installed capacity that we have today represents a twelve-fold increase over the last ten years,” said Florence in a Radio NZ interview.

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