Wind Powers Affect on Sustainable Development

Introduction
Sustainable Development in definition is working to ensure that the use of resources and the environment today does not restrict their use by future generations. This is however a very hard achievement in reality. This report will focus on the preservation of energy resources in the United Kingdom, and more widely the World, and the growing use of renewable energy sources across the globe. I will also be looking at how this plays a role with sustainable development

The aspect of renewable energy that will be highlighted in this report is wind power. The aspects that will be looked at are; the financial effect, the political effect, the effects that it has on the environment, the effect that it has on sustainable development and other technical alternatives to this energy source. Just like every renewable source of energy, window power has positive aspects and negative aspect. This report aims to address the above mentioned criteria within this report, and analyse whether these are playing a key contribution to sustainable development. By doing this it will help see whether the introduction of such alternate energy sources is achieving one of its main goals and ensuring sustainable development

Wind power, a basic overview
Wind power is one of the most important sources of renewable energy to be discovered and implemented within the last decade. Its increased popularity and availability have led to it becoming one of the most widely used forms of energy.

In essence the way in which wind turbines generates power is very simple. By the turbine being so large, and the installation of them only occurring in places of high winds. The wind movement helps generate kinetic energy, which is then stored. Turbines that generate this energy can power many thousands of homes, and by doing this they are also help towards sustainable development. By householdswhy using electricity that was generated by wind turbines they are reducing the amount of fossil fuels that are being used, and in turn this helps reduces the amount of Co2 gases that are being emitted. What this essentially means is that wind power is helping to reduce the effects of global warming.

Financial aspect of wind power
The installation of wind turbines and the cost of setting up wind farms as a whole come at a very high price. This price however when put into context is seen as a worthy investment due to the positive effects it has as a whole towards sustainable development. The cost of installing wind turbines comes in at hundreds of thousands of pounds, and this is a fee that is met by governments. Funds also come from alternate sources, the sources of money generally include rich investors, and more precisely capital investors, and these are attracted by the recent financial incentives.

Though the wind turbine installation comes at such a high price, this does not affect the price that those using wind powers will pay. This is mainly due to the subsidising of energy prices by governments. Energy companies are continuing to install wind farms all across the world; one reason for this is that they want people to see they are doing their part in reducing the emissions of Co2 that other sources of energy can create. Electricity companies are also installing these wind farms as they see them as a good investment for the future. They recognise that renewable sources of energy will soon totally replace non renewable energy sources, and therefore recognise that it is a financial step that they will have to take at one stage, if they wish to continue

Social Aspect of Wind Power

Renewable sources of energy and more particularly the growing popularity of wind power is affecting society in a number of ways. Firstly the increased amount of wind farms has caught people in 2 minds. Here is one example of peoples attitude towards wind power “objections seem to have come from residents nearby, some of whom feared the constructions would be ugly and noisy, ineffective and dangerous to birds but even amongst locals, not everyone shares that view” people having this opinion is reducing the amount of wind farm that are built. People believe that there installation will devalue their house price, lead to noise pollution, and affect the general ambience of the surrounding area.
Another view that people have on wind power is recognizing the great effect on the environment. People are beginning to recognise that the use of renewable sources of energy is doing good to the world. People are now beginning to realise that they may now need to change their ways, and make the world a better place for the future, and ensure that there are resources available for future generations. “One reason is that a small but growing number of people want to gain 'power' over their own power. In the same way, alternative medicine is growing because people want to have control over their own physical well being” With people recognising that they need to make a difference

Political Aspect of Wind Power

Politics plays a great part in the discovery of renewable sources of energy. It is because of this that governments take a great amount interest in the subject. The British government has a lot of pressure on it from the worlds important governing bodies, who want to see active change in the attitude towards global warming - this is one of the main reasons that the Britain has invested so heavily in wind power, and the development of technologies around it
Another reason why governments are so keen to push forward the idea of improving renewable sources is the positive effect that the new energy sources are having on the economy – there introduction has bought in a number of new investment opportunities from companies within the UK and companies outside it, by welcoming these investments not only are they reducing the amount of subsidies that they give to the companies setting up the farms, but they also show other countries the lengths they are going to, to ensure a cleaner future for generations to come

Environmental Effects of Wind Power

Wind power has a great effect on the environment, some of which are negative; however most of them are seen as positive. The negatives however do still exist, so therefore some people see them as a reason to not support the growing popularity of wind power. One Negative effect wind power has on the environment is the noise and sound pollution that it creates; many people see them as eye sores, and when proposed few people are willing to have them installed within their communities. The noise pollution that the turbine generates is also seen as a negative effect on the environment, with once again many people objecting to the installation of wind farms within their community.

Another negative effect that turbines have on the environment is its effect on wildlife. It has been stated that the turbines are hazardous to wildlife such as birds; this is due to the fast rotation speed of the turbines, with many fatalities occurring. The turbines also scare wildlife such as squirrels, badgers, foxes and many more – this is because of the vibrations to the earth and noise that the turbine generator
However the positive aspect of wind power outweighs the negatives quite considerably. One positive is the reduction of green houses gases that wind power brings with it – because wind power is a renewable source of energy, it is far cleaner than non renewable sources. This means that when people switch to renewable sources of energy, they are reducing the negative effects that Co2 gases can have on the environment.
Wind power is also seen as a green source of energy because it resources that are free. What this effectively means is that it uses the wind, to create the power, and generate the energy needed – this is a seen as a positive effect on the environment, as it does not use any resources that are scarce or in demand for other projects.

Technical Alternatives to Wind Power

There are a number of technical alternative to wind power, these can be pair into two groups – these groups being renewable sources of energy and non renewable sources of energy. I feel in this report it would be only best to talk about the renewable sources of energy, as non renewable sources seem to be out dates and work against the goals of sustainable development.
One alternative to wind power is solar power. What this effectively is the installation of panels that absorb heat from the sun, with this heat, it heats water, and pumps this round a house – which will heat the house, and save the owners energy. This is a very good form of renewable energy, as it provides its users with adequate amount of energy. It is also good because individual householders can install them, and live off of the benefits. Like every energy source however, it has its drawbacks. One of these drawbacks is the price that it costs to have the panels installed. This price is why you will not find many people with them around England – they will only really be found in places of wealth. Another drawback of solar panels is that they are extremely dependant of the weather. Without adequate sunlight they will not perform correctly, and will make them almost inept.
Another alternate to wind power is tidal power; this is a source that generates energy form the globes natural tide. Again like all power sources this has its advantages and disadvantages. One advantage of tidal power is that it is a green renewable source of energy. Another advantage is that it constantly creates energy as the tide will constantly be rotating the turbines. The disadvantages of it are however that it is a very expensive piece of equipment to fit, on top of this there are only certain places that it can be places in the sea, which makes it very hard to determine a location for the underwater turbines to be placed.

Sustainable Development and Conclusion

In this report it shows the positive effects that wind power is having on sustainable development. It highlights the number of aspects there are to overlook in order to achieve this sustainable development. These aspects whether they are political, social, environmental or financial all need to be addressed before we can really understand how we achieve sustainable development. By highlighting these aspects it is possible to see how close we are in fact to achieving this goal.

Resources /Appendicies
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http://science.howstuffworks.com/wind-power.htm - Willy cheung 2004

http://www1.eere.energy.gov/windandhydro/wind_how.html - 11/30/2006 eere energy

http://www.esru.strath.ac.uk/EandE/Web_sites/0304/wind/content/limits.html

http://www.freewebs.com/communitywindpowernetwork/financing.htm - wind power network - mailto:toke1952@yahoo.co.uk

http://www.envocare.co.uk/wind_power.htm - April 2001, Last amended: 2 February, 2005, envo care

http://www.thesolarguide.com/wind-power/effects-society.aspx - Editor, The Solar Guide US

http://www.aweo.org/ProblemWithWind.html - by Eric Rosenbloom
http://www.newscientist.com/channel/life/mg19025494.700-wind-turbines-send-wildlife-diving-for-cover.html - New Scientist magazine, 03 May 2006, page 18