• Believe it or not, wind is caused by the sun!
• Heat energy from the sun warms atoms on land and in the air making them move faster and spread out.
  • As the warm air rises from the ground, cool air replaces its location making wind!

• The moving wind can easily move anything we place in its way.
• Windmills have flat blades to catch the wind that rotate around a central point.
• When we put magnets on the windmill so they rotate around a copper coil, we get electricity!

• Once the windmill is setup, it will just spin and generate electricity when the wind blows.
  • There is no CO₂ produced since nothing is being burned.

• Wind is one of the least reliable forms of weather so it’s difficult for a location to be 100% dependent on wind energy.
  • Large scale wind farms are located in places that have above average windy days.

• Some places are generally more windy than others, so wind turbines aren’t an energy solution for everyone.

• The metals and concrete needed for windmills must be mined, assembled in factories, transported and installed with equipment that runs on fossil fuels that produce CO₂.
• In addition, the glue and lubricants for the gears are petroleum products.

• If they make it through 20 years of spinning without being struck by lightning, turbine blades wear out and must be replaced.
• Because the blades are made of several materials glued together, they can’t be recycled and are piled up or buried.

Wind accounts for 3% of all energy consumed in US

China produces the most wind energy in the world.

• Denmark is a very small European country with a population just shy of 6 million people.
• 26% of total energy and over 50% of electricity is generated by wind in Denmark!

• Once turbines are manufactured and installed, wind energy provides low cost and very clean energy.
  • With wind being unreliable, no location will ever be fully reliant on wind. But it can be a great addition to a country’s energy profile.