SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC IMPACTS OF WIND POWER IN CORELATION WITH THE FINANCIAL CRISES

Abstract

Given the present day and age we live in, it is vital that the world considers the various natural resources available to us and how to best make use of them. Furthermore, it is imperative nowadays to look at the many environmentally friendly energy sources which will reduce the ill effects of global warming and provide a host of economic and social benefits too. One such beneficial resource is wind and the consequent conversion of wind energy into electricity. In fact, the advantages of wind energy are so immense that even the government has begun promoting it. Since generating electricity from wind doesn't emit any green house gases or produce any particulate emissions, it massively reduces the rate of global climate change, and at the same time doesn't contaminate our water resources such as lakes and reservoir.Wind energy provides security and stability in the national consumer energy market. By reducing a nation's dependency on foreign fossil fuels, such as coal and natural gas, spikes in fossil fuel costs or other supply disruptions will not have as much of an adverse impact on the national economy. Also the price of wind energy is relatively stable because there are no fuel costs, which is a major operating expense for most coal and gas fired electric generation facilities. Although wind farms occupy large swaths of land, wind turbine towers themselves take up less space, only a few meters at their base. This leaves space to utilize the land around the turbine tower for several other purposes, such as ranching or agriculture. The application of advanced technologies has succeeded in making the conversion of wind energy much more resourceful and well-organized. Furthermore, wind is a proven clean, free and renewable form of energy that preserves our natural resources. Wind energy conserves water resources as wind farms virtually require no cooling, as opposed to natural gas, coal and nuclear power plants that require a tremendous amount of water for cooling. In fact, electricity generation is the leading contributor to water withdrawals from our nation's water reservoirs. Since wind turbines come in an array of different sizes, they are a great resource to generate energy in remote locations to support varying population levels. The use of wind energy reduces Greenhouse Gas emissions, and increases security and stability by diversifying the national electricity portfolio. Apart from environmental profits, there are many social and economic advantages too in promoting wind energy. One of these is that the promotion of wind energy assists in revitalizing rural economies, thereby creating jobs at the ground level, such as assembly workers, surveyors, engineers, lawyers, bankers, technicians, to name just a few. In doing so, it also benefits local communities, mainly in the form of property tax revenues and new types of income for landowners through land lease payments.wind energy, alternative source, ecological advantages