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Qishen Xu
Professor Semih Eser
EGEE 101H
05 April 2014
The Power for a Sustainable Future- Wind Power & Off-Shore Wind Energy
Abstract
With the growing population, energy demand of the world is increasing rapidly, so its
necessary to think about what are some ways to better satisfy this need. This paper provides an
overview of the advantages of wind energy, especially off-shore wind power. First, a brief
introduction to the condition of the electricity generation talks about what energies we currently
depend on and the benefits of renewable energy like wind energy. Second, the literature review
brings some brief historical facts and the progression about wind energy. Third, the discussion
mainly explains about the plausible and specious wrong opinions that prohibit the development
of the wind energy, such as wind turbines noise, the land problem, the intermittent problem of
wind energy and some general facts that people do not know. Finally, the conclusion part
contains the results from the authors research on the Wind Power and off-shore Wind energy.
Introduction
The current world is in a huge demand of energies as well as suffering from the side
effects of conventional energy. Every year, energy consumption rates continue to rise, and
energy companies must meet the demand. It is expected that world energy consumption will
grow by 56 percent between 2010 and 2040 (International Energy Outlook 2013, EIA).
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Electricity, the most important and widely used one among other forms of energies, requires a
large amount of other energies to transform into. Human beings have developed some traditional
ways in order to provide enough electricity, such as nuclear power and burning fossil fuels. 68%
of the U.S. national electricity generation comes from burning fossil fuels like coal and gas, and
20% is from nuclear power (EPA). Fossil fuels, such as oil, coal, and natural gas, are non-
renewable, which means that they cannot be replaced within a human lifetime. They emit
pollutants such as carbon dioxide, a gas that is suspected of being the major cause of recent
global climate changes; hydrocarbons and nitrogen oxides, which are the causes of ground-level
ozone; and nitrogen oxides and sulfur dioxide, the major causes of acid rain. Power plants are
responsible for seventy-two percent of SO
2
emissions and thirty-three percent of all NO
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emissions (Bull et al., 2000).
Renewable energy, such as solar, wind, geothermal, hydroelectric, and biomass energy
sources, can be renewed within a human lifetime and is an alternative to fossil fuels and other
non-renewable energy sources. Renewable energy sources tend to be cleaner, and have fewer
environmental impacts. One of the most promising renewable energy sources is wind power.
Wind energy can reduce pollutants emitted into the atmosphere as it produces no emissions of its
own. It also lengthens the time that fossil fuels will last because it provides energy that would
otherwise come from the burning of fossil fuels.
The resource of fossil fuels is limited, and they are environmentally unfriendly, and the
nuclear power has hidden incredible danger such as the Japan Fukushima nuclear leak. Therefore,
renewable energy like wind energy could be the most reliable, cheapest and environmentally
friendly energy source in the future. According to International Energy Outlook 2013, almost 80
percent of the projected increase in renewable electricity generation is fueled by hydropower and
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wind power (EIA). It indicates the increasingly important position of the wind energy in the
coming years. As it shows in Fig.1, the annual growth rate of wind energy grows fastest.

Figure.1 Worldwide average annual growth rate in energy use (19901997)
The location of a wind turbine is of vital importance to how well it will work. Unlike the
common land based wind energy, the off-shore wind energy utilizes the benefits of the windy
off-shore area to be more productive and also utilize the available space of ocean.
The objective of the paper is to critically discuss the pros and cons of the wind energy as
well as to discuss the advantages of off-shore wind energy.
Literature Review
Wind power has been utilized by human beings for a long period, but the development of
wind power was slow in history, lacking humans attentions. People in Middle East developed
windmills and applied widely for grinding flour and beans. According to its history, wind energy
has been used at least since 3,100 BC. However, the first practical wind turbine was built by
Charles Brush in 1886; it provided enough electricity for 100 incandescent light bulbs, three arc
lights and several electric motors. However, the turbine was too expensive at that time for
commercial development (National Academies Press, 12). As a result of the huge cost of wind
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turbine at that time, wind power was not greatly utilized; nevertheless, the potential of wind
energy is not ignorable.
The progression of wind power (Figure.2) was accelerating under the double pressure of
the 1973 oil crisis and the deterioration of the ecological environment. The magnitude and the
height of the wind turbine become better in efficiency. As a pollution-free and renewable energy,
wind power has a huge potential to develop, especially for some mountain areas and remote
villages that use wind energy for basic needs like electricity. Based on the report from the
National Research Council, the growth of capacity to generate electricity from wind energy has
been rapid, growing from almost none in 1980 to 11,603 megawatts (MW) in the United States,
in 2006 and about 60,000 MW in 2006 globally (1). These data greatly indicates the significance
of wind power. Moreover, the American wind industry experienced record-breaking growth in
2012 as a U.S. power provider. American wind power's generation shot up 17 percent last year
and produced more than 10 percent of the electricity in nine states, up from five states in 2011.
Across the country, wind energy produced 3.5 percent of the nation's electricity during 2012,
according to the Energy Information Admiration's (EIA) latest figures (American wind power
now generates over 10 percent of electricity in nine states, AWEA).

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Fig.2 Size revolution of wind turbines over time
Unlike fossil fuel, wind power has its unique advantage of cleanliness as a renewable
energy, meaning that we can use them to provide electricity as much as we want without
considering the pollution such as greenhouse gases and dust. As Fthenakis Vasilis described in
his article, Wind power, as an alternative to fossil fuels, is plentiful, renewable, widely
distributed, clean, produces no greenhouse gas emissions during operation and uses little
land(6). Wind as an unlimited great source for producing electricity, can also create positive
long-term effects on the future of the earth.
Wind Turbine & Off-Shore Wind Power
Wind turbine is a machine that translates wind power to electrical energy, and it has two
types: vertical and horizontal (the common type). Betz' law gives the maximal achievable
extraction of wind power by a wind turbine as 59% of the total kinetic energy of the air flowing
through the turbine (Grogg, 8). The data indicate the wind energy has a fine efficiency among
other renewable energies.
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Off-shore wind power utilizes the steadier and stronger off-shore wind to generate
electricity through the construction of wind farms, formed by a collection of hundreds of
individual wind turbines, in water areas like Ocean. These wind turbines have less aesthetic
influence of the landscape and have more availably frequent and strong winds than land based
wind farms.
Discussion
Firstly, considering about wind energy, many people complain about the noise caused by
wind turbines. However, wind turbines are not as noisy as people think. Engineers use a decibel
scale to describe the loudness as perceived. Within this scale, familiar noises have approximate
decibel levels as shown (Harrison, 256).
Background at night in a rural area: 25 dBA
Recommended bedroom level: 25 dBA
Living room: 40-45 dBA
A busy office: 60-65 dBA
Heavy street traffic: 90 dBA
According to Fig.1, the sound pressure level of the place where is 800 meters away from
the wind turbine is only 35-40 dBA, which is equivalent to the recommended bedroom level or
living room. Since homes are usually required to be set back away from wind turbines, the effect
of noise is minimal. In fact, it does not even cause any problem if the off-shore wind energy is
applied, because wind farms are set at ocean landscapes, which is far enough not to cause any
influences.

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Figure.3 Predicted sound pressure level versus distance from turbine
Besides, the effect of wind turbines on birds seems to be a big concern from the public
domain. However, scientist Claire L. Devereux conducted an experiment concerning the Effects
of Wind Turbines on the Distribution of Wintering Farmland Birds. The result of the experiment
concludes: Our analysis suggests that turbines were not a major deterrent to birds using areas
within 150m and supports our main finding at a larger scale. It is clear that a range of farmland
birds are not influenced by wind turbines even at closer proximity (Devereux, 1693). The fruit of
the experiment indicates that the effect of wind turbines on birds is unfounded, and most wind
sites do not have significant problems with birds. Careful planning to stay away from migratory
routes can avoid this major issue.
Furthermore, some scientists are confident that wind energy is an intermittent source of
electricity. In addition, the alternating current will invalidate the transmission of the electricity of
the energy from the wind turbine to the grid, and the existence of wind is uncertain. Nevertheless,
according to Infineon Technologies latest research, Electrical engineers have developed robust
power switches suitable for the ocean. No more energy is needed for the continuous charging and
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discharging of the isolator, the cable is no longer blocked and the wind-generated electricity can
travel long distances to reach land (Renewable energy from offshore wind farms). On the other
side, a research testified that a New soft-switching methods and higher level topologies for VSC-
based HVDC can significantly reduce the converter losses and make transmission more
economical and reliable (Erlich, 900). Consequently, the problem of wind energys intermittency
has been solved.
Last but not least, the off-shore wind energy has many other benefits. According to a
video called Facts about wind energy, there are several valuable facts:
1. The wind power can not only provide power to the national grid, but also power local
homes and business. 2. Wind turbines spin 70-80% of the time. 3. One wind
turbines=16,000 solar panels, which is enough to cover Manchester Uniteds football
pitch four times; 4. One wind turbine powers 1219 homes, 13479 fridges and 28000000
kettles boiled. 5. Each wind turbine can keeps on generating green energy for 25 years on
average. 6. A turbine displaces 2365 tons of CO
2
every year; 7. Birds face many hazards
but wind turbines only cause 0.01% of bird fatalities. 8. Wind power is the cheapest form
of renewable energy. 9. Nuclear decommissioning will cost over 70 billion euro that
could have paid for green wind energy since the French Revolution (ASC Renewables).
Considering these interesting facts, wind energy is an efficient, clean, and renewable energy with
low cost and high safety. Therefore, the wind energy should be widely applied in the future.
Conclusions
With the growth of the energy demand, human beings are suffering from a lack of energy
source and the side effects of exploiting the huge amount of fossil fuel, such as global warming
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and worse economy. In order to improve the situation, humans should widely apply the
renewable energy, because not only does it not produce harmful chemical to the environment,
but also do people utilize it as much as they can, without any limit. Unlike other renewable
energies, wind power is the cheapest, and it has many advantages such as longevity, efficiency
and safety. As a result of the discussion, the wind turbines are extremely quiet, and the effect of
wind turbines of bird is just an illusion. Birds wont get hurt by the wind-turbines and the
probability of getting harm is smaller than the risk of knocking onto the building. Furthermore,
although the wind energy is intermittent, electrical engineers have already created a new
technology to support the operation of off-shore wind power. Although development off-shore
wind energy is expensive, the endless energy and long term revenue created by wind turbine is
worth more than the finite costs it carries.









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Work Cited
American Wind Energy Association. American Wind Power Now Generates over 10 Percent of
Electricity in Nine States. Rep. American Wind Energy Association, 13 Mar. 2013. Web.
30 Mar. 2014.
ASC Renewables. Facts about wind energy. Youtube. 09 Nov. 2013 Web. 09 Apr. 2014.
Bull, SR, and LL Billman. "Renewable Energy: Ready to Meet its Promise?" WASHINGTON
QUARTERLY 23.1 (2000): 229-44. Print.
Devereux, Claire L., Matthew J. H. Denny, and Mark J. Whittingham. "Minimal Effects of Wind
Turbines on the Distribution of Wintering Farmland Birds." Journal of Applied
Ecology 45.6 (2008): 1689-94. Print.
Erlich, I.; Shewarega, F.; Feltes, C.; Koch, F.W.; Fortmann, J., "Offshore Wind Power
Generation Technologies," Proceedings of the IEEE , vol.101, no.4, pp.891,905, April
2013 Web. 09 Apr. 2014.
Environmental Protection Agency. "Power Profiler." How Clean Is the Electricity I Use? U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency, 26 Feb. 2014. Web. 06 Apr. 2014.
Fthenakis, Vasilis, and Hyung Chul Kim. "Land use and Electricity Generation: A Life-Cycle
Analysis." Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 13.6 (2009): 1465-74. Print.
Grogg, Kira. Harvesting the Wind: The Physics of Wind Turbines. N.p.:
n.p.,n.d.Digitalcommons.carleton.edu/pacp/7. Carleton College, 25 Apr. 2005. Web. 9
Apr. 2014.
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Harrison, John P. "Wind Turbine Noise." Bulletin of Science, Technology & Society 31.4 (2011):
256-61. Print.
Infineon Technologies "Renewable energy from offshore wind farms - Infineon Technologies
."YouTube.16 May 2011. Web. 9 April. 2014.
National Academies Press (U.S.), and National Research Council (U.S.). Committee on
Environmental Impacts of Wind-Energy Projects. Environmental Impacts of Wind-
Energy Projects. Washington, D.C: National Academies Press, 2007. Print.
U.S Department of Energy.World Energy Use to Rise by 56 Percent, Driven by Growth in the
Developing World. Press Room. U.S. ENERGY INFORMATION ADMINISTRATION,
25 July 2013. Web. 9 Apr. 2014.