Reflection

The process in making a blog is really amazing. But before typing it out, you had to do some research. As you know, I did wind energy. It was a tiny bit hard to do research, because I couldn't find a lot of information. I used up all of the books Mrs. Hicks gave us, so I couldn't take any new notes. That caused me to have to use the Internet. I didn't like that. I'm more comfortable with books, and the Internet doesn't always the most accurate information. But still, I didn't complain. After I finished doing research, I made sure all of my bibliographies were correct. It's pretty hard to find all of the information needed in making a bibliography. Then I had to do a rough draft. It took me a couple of times to make it good enough. Finally, I got to type it! This is my most favourite step. I really liked designing it.
I think in making a blog, you had to be a communicator. After all, it may be your first time in making a blog. You had to communicate in any way to find out how to make a blog. I even had to ask Mrs. Hicks how to do some things on my blog. And in order to do a good job we all had to be enthusiastic about what we were doing. I bet everyone was pretty excited about making a blog! But at some times, we had to be independent. People cannot help us at all times...

Energy

The ways in which we harness, use, and change energy affects our quality of life and the future of our planet.

What is energy? How do we use it? What are the different forms of energy?

Energy is the ability to do "work”. There are many ways in which we use energy. We use it for powering television, computers, flashlights, and radios. Basically, energy can be electricity. There are two types of energies. Potential energy is stored energy. Kinetic energy is working energy. We use energy for one main reason: making life easier. Imagine what life would be like without objects that need energy to be powered! It wouldn’t be simple, that’s all I have to say. And there are also different forms of energy. There is solar energy, wind energy, geothermal energy, uranium (nuclear energy), biomass, hydro power, and fossil fuels. Right now, you'll find out a lot about wonderful wind energy!

What is wind energy? How do we use it? How did we use it? What causes it?

Wind is basically moving air. The energy in wind comes from the sun. When it hits an object, some of the wind's energy is passed onto that object. As it shines on land, it heats up the earth and the air gets hotter than the one above water. The hot air rises into the air, while the cooler air rushes to take its place. Because the earth is heated unevenly, this happens. Water, flat land, and mountains are windy places. This is the wind cycle, or you can just call it wind. You can also call it circulation. Wind has been used for many years in many different ways. Early Egyptian used it to sail boats across the Nile River. They depended on the way the wind blew. People these days may still sail ships that need a little bit of wind energy in order to be able to sail. People from Holland used windmills (which are powered by wind) to grind wheat. Pilgrims also used windmills to grind corn, pump water, and run sawmills. People these days use electricity made by wind. (You will soon find out how) As you can see, wind energy is really useful. Electricity made from wind is used as a very little percent. Wind energy is only good enough to power a city the size of Chicago. Anyway, wind farms are many, many windmills/wind turbines in one place. They are almost as tall as 20-story buildings. As wind blows, it pushes the blades of the turbine. This spins a generator. Wind turbines don't run all the time. Sometimes they don't work at all, only 2/3 of the time. It can even blow too hard! Most of them are in California, but there are plans for more wind farms around the United States of America.

Is it renewable? Pros? Cons?

Wind energy is renewable because the sun is inexhaustible (will never run out). After all, wind is caused by the sun. If there will always be a sun, then there will always be wind. Something that is renewable will never run out, so wind will never run out. The good thing about wind energy is that it’s completely free! It's not like we have to pay for the wind to blow ships, or run wind turbines. But when we want it to be turned into electricity, people have to pay for wind turbines to be made. So it’s not free all the time. Wind is also a clean energy source. You don’t burn any fossil fuels, which pollute the air. Little environment is harmed when the wind blows. But wind turbines aren't exactly the best either. When birds or bats fly into the wind turbines, it may kill them. Those aren't exactly animal safe. But scientists are working on it. Also, some people complain about the noises wind turbines cause. Old ones are noisy, but the new ones aren’t. You can change them out, but that will take a lot money and technology. Wind energy cannot be stored. It comes at any times. Sometimes wind can come when not needed, but doesn’t come when needed. It’s really unpredictable…

How has the usage of wind energy changed?

As you already know, people have used wind energy differently over the years. People have used windmills to grind wheat. The design of the windmill has changed over the years. The oldest windmills were in Persia (now Iran). They looked like large paddle wheels. Later on, people from Holland had improved the look of the windmill. They had blades that looked like propellers, but there were still sails. Even as late as the 1920s, Americans were able to use small windmills. And of course people used wind to guide their ships. Some ships still have sails, and they need the wind energy to sail. These days electricity from wind is most needed.

Why do we need wind energy?

Wind energy is a very useful source of energy. A long time ago, people literally relied on the wind to guide their ships around. They would only sail when the wind blew the right direction, or even blew. Later on, people didn’t really need the wind to sail. They learned to sail against it, or the direction it didn’t blow. Then, it was used to power windmills. And finally, people learned to convert wind energy to electricity. And it’s always nice (to me) to have a lot of alternative energy sources. Because we use a lot of fossil fuels, it would be good to use an energy source that is clean and harmless to the environment. That way, we have a lot of alternative energy sources to choose from.

What other energy source does wind energy connect to? How do we connect to wind energy?

Wind energy connects to solar energy. Without solar energy, there wouldn’t even be wind energy. Wind energy is converted from solar energy; it is a form of solar energy. After all, the sun’s energy (solar energy) heats the earth and causes the uneven heating. That makes wind. People have a large part in making electricity from the wind. People created wind turbines!

What is the history of wind energy?

500–900 AD-The first windmills were made in Persia. They were made for pumping water and grinding grain

1300-The first horizontal-axis windmills were in Western Europe.

1850s -Daniel Halladay and John Burnham built the Halladay Windmill. It was designed for the American West. What it looked like: open tower design and thin wooden blades.

Late 1880s- Thomas O. Perry tried about 5,000 wind experiments. He was trying to build a better windmill. He also invented the mathematical windmill. It used gears to make the rotational speed of the blades less. It was much better. The making of steel blades made windmills more productive. Six million windmills came across America when settlers moved west. They were really useful.

1888-Charles F. Brush used the first windmill to make electricity in Cleveland, Ohio, they were known as wind turbines.

1950s -Windmill companies in the U.S. were out of business

1973-The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) caused oil prices to rise really high. That rose interest in other alternative energy sources, like wind energy.

1985-A lot of wind turbines were put in California, but they weren’t very good