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During my recent travels overseas, I saw quite a lot of wind farms in Great Britain and I started wondering about the viability of harnessing energy from wind power in Australia.

The first electricity generating wind turbines were invented in the United States and Europe in the late 1800s. In the early part of the twentieth century many rural communities experimented successfully with small-scale home made wind turbines for their electricity supply using old car generators and old biplane propellers.

In spite of this early enthusiasm from rural dwellers, by 1996, the worldwide use of wind turbines was less than one percent of the global electiricity generated from all sources.

Recently there has been increased interest in wind power as a means to alleviating the worrying greenhouse effect caused ny non-renewable fuels such as coal, oil and gas, thus leading to a warming of the Earth's atmosphere.

There is enough power in the wind across the earth's six continents to supply four times the world's energy needs. With our vast open spaces in Australia, we have the potential to harness more wind energy than we would ever need. There are already a small number of wind farms operating here contributing a substantial amount of power to electricity grids.

One of the big drawbacks to wind power is that wind is often erratic, changing direction and speed and it is therefore very important to site wind generators in areas where wind speed is high and constant.

In Australia, important advances have been made in this regard. Researchers have used computer models to calculate potential wind energy yield at different locations. Modern wind turbinse are being mounted on towers 40 - 60 metres high to maximise energy from the wind.

There is a concern that wind power inadvertently kills birds and bats. This will be minimised by ensuring that wind farms are not built in known flight paths or near nesting areas and waterholes. Wildlife groups welcome clean green power that wind can bring, and are more than happy to let the authorities know about these locations.

Wind power is the fastest growing energy generation industry in the world. Across the world, over the past ten years, wind power usage has grown by thirty percent mainly in California, Spain, Germany and Denmark.

Just as long as the wind keeps blowing, wind power will be a vital clean, green source of the world's electricity needs now and in the future.

Learn more about this author, Patricia Young.
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