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Wind Energy

Wind energy is renewable and sustainable because as long as the sun shines, wind will blow. Wind is created when warm air over land rises. The land heats up more quickly than the water – the cooler air over the water moves into the space created by warm air rising over land.

Wind energy is used mainly to generate electricity. Today the technology isn’t much more complicated than when ancient Egyptians harnessed wind 5,000 years ago to navigate their boats on the Nile. However, wind machines still face the same problem they did 5,000 years – how to be of any use when the wind isn’t blowing.

In the 21st Century several European countries have begun building and utilizing off-shore wind energy projects to take advantage of the wild atmospheric winds that blow over the Earth’s oceans. Large countries such as China and the United States have built large wind farms on land, but are now expanding into the offshore wind market, which is logistically easier since large freighter ships can easily carry much longer turbine blades.

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