Windmills Could Be Greener

Team A to Z

Ashley Martin The energy crisis our Earth is suffering from is nothing new. For far too long, America has ignored a critically important and constantly growing problem, the condition of our environment. Wind energy has developed into a major, dependable constant source of energy. In addition to creating new jobs, wind farms bring revenue to rural areas. They are a much needed switch to save our Earth rather than letting it die from the bad quality air pollutants from fossil fuels. In our generation of the advance living standard of the human being, with such a high amount of people owning more than 3 electrical devices, our environment is getting affected to a great extent by the means of air pollution, noise pollution, water pollution, acid rain and other dangerous disasters created by our man made technological advancements. Windmills are a useful source of green energy. However, they are not as green as they could be. The rotor blades are normally manufactured in a factory that can sometimes create some air pollution; and although it would be creating less air pollution than sticking with the electrically generated fossil fuel energy, it still is not a completely green option. Wind turbines also would overall cost less than if you continued with the electrically generated fossil fuel energy. However, a big cost is for the wind turbine itself to be manufactured. Global warming is a worldwide growing issue. This phenomenon is deathly dangerous for all the countries near oceans, seas or other water resources.

It can also cause glaciers start melting and the increase of the sea level because of higher temperature. It could also result in the floods around the world. In addition, it can cause droughts on the Earth shortly, which will majorly damage our planet, humans and creatures. Carbon

Dioxide emissions are growing at excessively high rates as years go on and we need to work on making our world as clean as we possibly can. If we clean up or energy use we can make it so

Earth can stay alive as long as we can possibly make it. The use of electronics and energy is rapidly growing as our phones are being upgraded, and tools are being made to reduce the amount of work people need to do. As of January 2014, it was reported that the United States has a population of 318.9 million citizen. A study that Pew Research Center created a fact sheet

called Mobile Technology Fact Sheet, showed that 90% of American adults own a cellphone,

32% of American adults own an e-reader, and 43% of American adults own a tablet computer.

Out of all the American adult cellphone owners, 67% find themselves checking their phone even when they do not notice their phone ringing or vibrating. In that same article, they reported that

“29% of cell phone owners describe their cellphone as ‘something they can’t imagine living without.’” Common knowledge is that the more you have your phone turned on, or using it the more energy it requires. Which in turn, means that more energy is consumed and that more air pollutants are sent into the world. The growing population on earth and the dependence on fossil fuels shows that wind energy is a must for our earth. Fossil fuels have for years been used consistently without second thought as to the effect on our earth, however as global warming continues to scare people worldwide, it is clear that alternative energy sources are the way of the future. In addition to fossil fuels being used without second thought, the way in which they are used is environmentally unsustainable. Burning fossil fuels in wasteful and harmful ways is something that we do everyday without second thought, until wind energy is in place and used extensively, these fossil fuels will continue to take a toll on our earth at an alarming rate. Wind turbines are a great switch for a green source of energy. In Green vs. green:

Measuring the compensation required to site electrical generation windmills in a viewshed, it mentioned how consumers are willing to pay more for green energy (wind, solar, and biomass) than the conventional sources for energy. In Wind Turbine- Materials and Manufacturing Fact

Sheet, it says the worldwide wind power has annually grown 30% since 1994, and at the end of

2000, the global capacity passed 17,600 megawatts. The United States alone had around 1,800 megawatts of new installations. In that same article, it admits that there are several areas where technological progress and cost reduction is needed. Small Wind Turbines could be a good choice for you to switch to for your electrical needs as long as you meet a few small requirements. Small Wind Electric Systems provides a few of those requirements is that there is enough wind where you live, tall towers are allowed in your neighborhood or rural area, and enough space. You have the ability to determine how much electricity you need or want to produce. The beginning cost can be a bit heavy but it will save you money in the long run. The smallest systems cost anywhere from 3,000-5,000 dollars, but the average system needed costs anywhere from 15,000-50,000 dollars and can even reach the high price of 100,000 dollars.

Everyone on earth is well familiar with the environment, it is everything which naturally surrounds and continually affects our daily lives on the earth.Wind turbines are a potentially great green energy source being made today. However, wind turbines are still not as green as they could be by several standards, but mainly because it can still emit air pollution during raw manufacturing. The wind turbines work by blades harvesting energy from wind, then the rotor converts kinetic energy in wind to rotational energy transmitted through the drivetrain to the generator. The generated electricity can be connected directly to upload or feed to the utility grid.

Which can then be transferred as the improved energy source system. Modern wind turbines are made of various materials. One of the main materials is metal, aluminum specifically, which can be a heavy material and environmental harmful to produce. On wind turbines, big rotor blades are usually made of hollowed metal, aluminum specifically, which is lighter than most metals but still environmental harmful to produce, or fiber-reinforced epoxy or unsaturated polyester. Our idea is that instead of using that material for the rotor blades, it could instead be made of recycled plastic. Blades are normally airfoil shaped and designed to capture energy from the strong and fast wind. The blades are best made out of fiberglass and reinforced plastic. Nacelles are enclosure that seals and protects the generator and gearbox. The tower carries the nacelle and rotor and is usually made out of steel, lattice, or concrete. As earlier stated, the tower could benefit from the weight reduction, the blades are already occasionally made from reinforced plastics, and the nacelle just needs to be protective of the generator and gearbox. Our question to you is, why not use recycled plastics for those components? Recycled plastics not only could reduce the amount of plastic pollution in the world, but also reduce the weight and cost of the wind turbine. Another issue for wind turbines not being utilized as well as they could be is that many people had the issue of Not In My Backyard (NIMBY) syndrome which causes them to vote no to having wind turbines put into place in their town. They normally vote no for the issue of wind turbines reducing the appearance of the landscape as well as taking up too much land space. Windmills could potentially become even more green than they already are and by making just one simple switch; change the metal rotor blades to instead be made of recycled plastic. To address the issue of citizen having “Not in my backyard” (NIMBY)’s issue of it blocking the view of the landscape of where these wind turbines would be placed, since there are many different colored plastic bottles, we could take advantage of that. You could use the clear bottles to make the blades not block of view of the landscape as much. You could also use the colored plastic bottles to turn the Wind Turbine into an art piece, using the different colors to create color designs on them. It may also help to better advertise the multiple options of being able to switch your energy source to a greener solution.

Majority of Wind Turbines are made of metal or fiber-reinforced epoxy or unsaturated polyester. Although wind turbines are a greener source of energy, they could be better, greener, and less expensive. In order to do so, our idea is to change components such as the blades, nacelle, and the tower to be made of recycled plastics. Not only would this deplete the air pollution the manufacturing makes from creating these components from raw material, but it could also deplete the amount of plastic pollution. Plastic is a very common source of pollution.

Plastics have been produced in large quantities since the end of World War Two. It has been recognized since the 1970s that plastic pollution has been widely spread to even oceanic waters.

There are profound effects on birds, as well as other animals, living around oceans because of how easily plastic is not properly taken care of and how easily the animals can choke of the small pieces. It is highly likely that if something is not done about it soon, it will continue to rapidly increase and pose threats on the environment. By creating windmills and turbines from recycled plastics, not only could it reduce pollution, but it could also be able to produce more green energy. It would also be very cost effective due to the plastic availability, compared to a Metal counterpart.

In an article about recycling plastics called Promoting Recycling: Private Values, Social

Norms, and Economic Incentives, they questioned whether personal ideas about the environment, or “social norms” played a role in why not everyone was recycling. In the United States, plastic water bottle sales have grown exponentially. In 1997 the United States was sold around 20 billion water bottles; in 2006, it was around 36 billion; and in 2008, it was around 50 billion. In

2006, it was accounted for that over 2 million tons of water bottles were incinerated or left for the landfill waste. If the world was to switch its’ energy dependency onto the Wind Turbines, adding on that some components be made out of recycled plastics, it would drastically decrease the amount of air pollutants. Global warming is a growing issue in our world, and to decrease the amount of air pollutants could soon become necessary. If the world continues at the rate it is currently at with energy consumption and lack of recycling, we could see in our lifetimes a very cataclysmic environmental disaster that affects the entire world. The truth is, preventive measures are the only way to save our planet and are more and more necessary the longer they are put off. The most helpful article was Life Cycle Analysis of Wind Turbine, and it is about how sustainable energy is to provide energy that meets the modern day needs without compromising the ability for adaptation to live up to future day needs. Our modern day electric generation is growingly using wind turbines as a green source of energy. Although wind energy is a clean and efficient source of energy, during the stages of primary material production, manufacturing of components, transportation, maintenance, and disposal energy is greatly consumed and carbon dioxide can be emitted into the environment. The raw material production showed by far the

highest amount of CO2 emission. At the end of the life of the materials manufactured into products, they are normally discarded, occasionally a fraction entering the recycling loop, and the rest committed to incineration or landfill. Environmental pollution is constantly affecting the daily lives of everyone negatively in various aspects of life such as socially, economically, physically, emotionally and intellectually. Contamination of the bad air emissions and other pollutants of the environment brings lots of diseases which people may suffer their whole life. It is not only a problem of community or city, it is a worldwide problem which honestly cannot be solved by the effort of one. If it is not addressed properly, it may end the existence of Earth sooner than expected. As a result of recycling being such a needed thing to do to keep our world from dying, and not enough people doing it, five states (California Connecticut, Hawaii, Maine, and Oregon) enact some laws. These laws are now called the Bottle Deposit Laws. What this means is that the state has enacted economic incentives, using a specific formula provided by

Promoting Recycling: Private Values, Social Norms, and Economic Incentives shown below.

Where is the fixed time cost, and is the unit time cost per bottle, n is the number of bottles returned, and w is the opportunity cost of time given by the wage rate. This incentive means that if someone was to recycle their plastic water bottles at the recycling factory, they would be able to receive a small amount of money from it. The percentage of non recyclers, those who stated that they did not recycle at all is 6% for states with water bottle deposit laws,

17% for states with deposit laws that do not cover water bottles, and 35% for states with no deposit law. Similar legislation has been proposed and pending in other states. So not only could using recycled plastic lower the cost of the wind turbines themselves, but it could also have a small incentive for citizens to become more involved in correctly recycling the plastic bottles.

Wind Turbines represent one of the most cost-effective, cleanest, home-based, renewable energy technologies available today. In order to calculate the amount of recycled plastic you would need to build blades for the wind turbine, you must first calculate the needed power output and the performance estimate of your hopeful end power generated. You can calculate the power outputted from a Wind Turbine by using the formula provided from Small Wind Electric Systems below

Where P=Power output, kilowatts; = Maximum power coefficient, ranging from 0.25 to 0.45, dimensionless (theoretical maximum = 0.59); r = Air density, ; A = Rotor swept area, or π D2/4

(D is the rotor diameter in ft, π = 3.1416); and V = Wind speed, mph k = 0.000133kw. A constant to yield power in kilowatts. (Multiplying the above kilowatt answer by 1.340kw converts it to horse-power. [i.e., 1 kW = 1.340 horsepower]). You are also able to find a preliminary estimate of the performance of a particular Wind Turbine by using the formula provided from Small Wind Electric Systems, . Where AEO = Annual energy output, kWh/year;

D = Rotor diameter, feet; and V=Annual average wind speed, mph. The benefits from using recycled plastic for the wind blades, nacelle, and possibly even tower as well are very are very worthwhile in looking into. Plastics are made out of polyethylene which is a type of petroleum.

Petroleum is a major source of our energy already, used for things such as heating, electricity, lighting, etc. Using recycled plastic rather than metal could be lighter weight resulting in the blades being able to turn easier and more often to create more energy. To resolve the NIMBY issue, the recycled plastic could come in many colors to make it be more like an art piece making it look more pleasing to it’s audience. It could also be made of the transparent plastic in order to make it not obstruct the scenic view as much as how it does now. It would also be able to reduce the cost of manufacturing since it would be made out of recycled plastics.

WHAT IS MY PLAN? PLAN GOES HERE.

The subsystem costs are evenly split between the rotor, nacelle (an enclosure that seals and protects generator and gearbox), drivetrain power systems, and the tower. In this article is says that no single component dominates over another in cost. However, the rotor is the highest cost and must be the most reliable. Later, in the same article it states that, the towers are heaviest and could benefit from weight reduction. The rotor alone is around 10-14% of the weight and 20-

30% of the cost and the tower is around 30-65% of the weight and 10-25% of the cost. Recycled plastic gives the future of wind turbines the option of making them lighter and cheaper. Change in wind turbine plants is a must for the expansion of wind turbines, mainly because if more wind turbines are created, it would be counter intuitive to continue in the fashion they are created in now. Using wind energy to power these plants is one plausible solution, as well as using other renewable energy sources. Wind turbines are created using highly specialized machinery that requires a very high level of skill to operate and also creates jobs for those who specialize in the advancement and creation of them. If wind turbines do in fact continue to grow as they should, renovation and adaptation on a global scale is imperative to their success. Wind generated energy is a great option for an energy source. It is more beneficial to the environment, as well as it could make your energy bill cost less in the long run. There are simple, but effective ways in which we can help make wind mills become more of a viable option. Just changing a few small components of the windmill to instead be made of recycled plastics, could make a significantly beneficial impact on the environment. Wind turbines are great as they are, but they could be better. Works Cited

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