Wind Power

Wind can be used to turn a turbine,which drives an electricity generator.
The sustainable development commission have said that "the UK has the best wind resources in Europe."
They are about 35% efficient and can generate an average of 2W per square metre so a large amount of space is needed.
Less than 1% of the land on a wind farm is taken up by the base of the turbines.
If wind speed is too low they cannot produce electricity. If it's too high they have to be shut down to avoid damage. Wind conditions are good for turbines for about 30% of the day.
If we covered the windiest 10% of the country we could generate 20kWh per person per day.
Turbines are noisy and large. They can be a threat to wildlife. It is thought that 440,000 birds are killed each year by wind turbines in the US.
Electricity costs 8 pence per kWh. They usually lst for about 20 year.
57 million birds are killed by cars, 100 million are killed ny colliding with glass and 500 million are killed by cats every year.

Resource summary

	Created by tiafisher99 almost 9 years ago