HaRvesting the Wind.

Renewable energy is naturally replenished energy which is extracted from natural sources such as wind, light, heat, and ocean waves... Currently, 16% of global energy consumption comes from renewable energy.  Renewable energy can replace conventional fuels in some distinct areas: electricity generation, heating, and motor fuels. For the purpose of this blog, I would like to focus on wind energy only even though other types of renewable energy are much more interesting. 
Wind power is the conversion of the wind energy into another form of energy such as electricity. It is plentiful, clean, and widely distributed. People have been using wind power since the ancient times such as sailing boats and windmills. By the end of the 19th century, wind was used to produce electricity. 

The picture below is the inside structure of a horizontal wind turbine.

A wind farm is a combination of wind turbines in a same area to produce electricity. It can be on-shore or off-shore. By 2000's, many large-scale wind farms are constructed and located in Europe, US, and China. The components of a wind farm include hundreds of wind turbines, a power transmission system, control and maintenance facilities, and a substation that connects the wind farm with the power grids.

List of onshore wind farms

List of offshore wind farms

This is the picture of the Altamont Pass wind farm located near Livermore, CA

This is a picture of the first off-shore wind farm in the world located in Denmark.

The link below is a fun quiz about Wind Energy.

Quiz: What you don't know about Wind Energy

Climate change: We need to act now or never.

Over the last century, we, human beings, have irrevocably damaged the environment through the unscrupulous greed of big business and our own willful ignorance. Climate change is defined as a significant and permanent change in the weather patterns and is often used to describe the human-caused impacts.  It is estimated that the Earth’s surface temperature has raised by 0.6^o ± 0.2 ^oC over the last century. The decline in Arctic ice is an example of the global warming. It caused the sea levels around the world rising. According to its World Energy Outlook 2009, the International Energy Agency (IEA) stated that the world is on a path for a risen in global temperature of up to 6^o C, with catastrophic consequences. Sea level rising can displace many seaside communities. For example, a sea level rise of 200 mm can make  700,000 people in Nigeria homeless.  It is estimated that to avoid severe weather and sea level rise and to limit the temperature increase by 2 ^oC, the Green House Gases concentration needs to be stabilized at 450 ppm CO2e. To do that, global emissions has to be halved by 2050. In 2009 IEA Reference Scenario, global energy-related CO2 emissions rise from 29 Gt in 2007 to 40Gt in 2030. 75% of the increase is associated with the developing economics of China, India, Middle East… As the world's need for energy grows, we need to focus on develop clean fuel initiatives to make the most of the fossils fuels and create sustainable energy sources from diverse renewable energy.