Wind Energy The issues, solutions and suitability Abhinandan Bera Under the guidance of Prof. Brian Orland LARCH 596 || Summer 2014 Pennsylvania State University Summary Historically, the mechanical energy of wind has been harnessed to power navigation or for agricultural use. Today wind energy is captured to produce electricity and stands out as a major source of renewable energy. In this paper, I will provide an overview on wind energy, the current statistics of its use in different parts of the world, the environmental impact issues that wind farm developments face, and the ways they have been dealt with. A major issue that wind farm developments face is in addressing their effects on landscape aesthetic values, and landscape architects have adopted different methods to deal with such problems, mostly through siting strategies implemented before the onset of a new wind farm development (Figure 1). This, with many other factors, calls for assessing the suitability of wind farm developments at any given location. For a better understanding of the issues I will examine a case study for wind farm site selection in Norwest Ohio conducted by P. V. Gorsevski and others using a prototype group based Spatial Decisions Support Systems (SDSS) tool, which is often used to address various spatial decisions problems in environmental and economic domains (Gorsevski, et al. 2013). Historic development of wind energy The earliest known windmills were vertical-axis mills used for generation of mechanical energy, which have been used in the Afghan highlands to grind grain since the seventh century BC. The first details about horizontal-axis windmills are found in historical documents from Persia, Tibet and China dating back to 1000 AD. This windmill type has a horizontal shaft and blades (or sails) revolving in the vertical plane. Windmills were not only used for grinding grain, but also for pumping water to drain lakes and marshes. (Ackermann and Söder 2002, 71). In 1891, Poul LaCour, a Danish scientist and inventor, was the first to build a wind turbine to generate electricity. Danish engineers improved the technology during World Wars I and II and used the technology to overcome war-time energy shortages (Ackermann and Söder 2002, 71). Contents Summary Historic development of wind energy Issues faced by wind energy Solutions Case study Conclusion References Figure 1: Wind turbines in Tioga County, PA, USA. 2014. Photo: Author