The entire quantity of economically extractable power available from the wind is considerably more than current human power use from all sources. An estimated 72 terawatts of wind power on the Earth potentially can be commercially viable, compared to about 15 terawatts typical global power consumed from all sources in 2005. These numbers are in spite of the fact that not all the power of the wind flowing past a given point can be extracted.
Wind power is the transformation of wind energy into a useful form, i.e. electricity, using wind turbines. At the close of 2008, worldwide nameplate capacity of wind turbines was 120.8 gigawatts.
Throughout history the wind has been used directly to propel sailboats or transformed into mechanical power for moving water or grinding grain, but the primary application of wind power today is the generation of electrical energy. Very large wind turbine collectives are usually connected to the local electric power transmission network, with smaller turbines providing electric power to the most rural areas. Utility companies willingly reimburse customer for excess electricity generated by the lower capacity home size wind generators. Wind energy as an energy source is favored by many environmentalists as a viable alternative to petroleum products, as it is everywhere, renewable, widely available, clean, and has lower greenhouse emissions, although the building of wind generating collectives is not always a welcome event due to their and other effects on the Eco-system. The inconsistency of wind seldom creates challenges when using wind generators to supply a small proportion of total demand. In an area where wind is considered for a moderate percentage of consumer demand, higher costs for adjustments due to inconsistency are believed to be reasonable.
Lately, the United States has added more wind generated capacity to its electric grid than anyone; U.S. wind power capacity increased by 45% to 16.8 gigawatts in 2007 and surpassing Germany's production capacity in 2008. California has been one of the incubators of the modern wind power industry, and led the U.S. in wind energy production for many years; however, by the end of 2006, Texas became the leading wind power state and today continues to extend its advantage. By the end of 2008, the state had 7,116 MW capacity installed, which would have placed it sixth worldwide if Texas were a separate nation.
Note: The whole quantity of economically extractable power available from the wind is considerably more than present human power use from all sources. An estimated 72 terawatts of wind power on the Earth potentially can be commercially viable, compared to about 15 terawatts average global power used from all sources in 2005. These numbers are in spite of the fact that not all the power of the wind flowing past a given point can be recovered.
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