• Question: how much energy is used in the making of a wind turbine?

    Asked by koifish to Daniel, Jon, Louise, Sharon, Zoe on 17 Jun 2010 in Categories: .
    • Photo: Daniel Richardson

      Daniel Richardson answered on 14 Jun 2010:

      i think that would depend on how you made it. You could probably make one by folding paper and that wouldn’t take up much energy. But it wouldn’t be much use when it rained.

    • Photo: Louise Dash

      Louise Dash answered on 14 Jun 2010:

      The quick answer is I don’t know! 😀

      I would think the main energy costs would be in the concrete for the base and the steel for the tower – both of which are quite expensive in terms of energy to produce. However nearly all sources of power would also involve large quantities of steel and concrete so I wouldn’t imagine that wind power uses much more energy in terms of production than other sources.

      This is an important point though – even “clean” energy like wind has an energy cost involved in its manufacture, and so has an environmental impact. The best way of saving the environment is just to use less energy!

    • Photo: Jon Copley

      Jon Copley answered on 15 Jun 2010:

      This is a really hard question, because when do you “start” making the wind turbine? For example, do you need to include the energy that it takes to mine the metals that make up its components? And what about the energy that it takes to make the tools that you use to put the turbine together? I think you could go on and on like that…

      Also what about the energy that it takes to transport all the components to the factory where you put the turbine together? And I think you’d need to consider the distance from the wind turbine factory to the site where the wind turbine is being installed, and how the turbine gets there (by road, air, or sea, for example).

      There used to be a factory making wind turbines on the Isle of Wight, and they stored the turbine blades right next to where I work in Southampton, before shipping them all over the world. Unfortunately the factory closed recently, and 650 local people lost their jobs. The factory moved to China – so now, if you installed one of their turbines in the UK, it would have to be shipped from China (using more energy in the process) instead of from closer to home.

    • Photo: Sharon Sneddon

      Sharon Sneddon answered on 16 Jun 2010:

      x

    • Photo: Zoe Duck

      Zoe Duck answered on 17 Jun 2010:

      According to a source I found, they cost about 58 MWh. In one year they produce 210 MWh so easily pay for themselves. Obviously, the amount generated depends on the location and wind in the area though.

      http://www.wind-works.org/articles/EnergyBalanceofWindTurbines.html

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