Wind Energy has been used in various forms since man first took to the sea. Windmills used to dot the land across America and can still be found pumping water on some farmlands. Today, wind energy is most likely to be used for generating electricity; from the small wind generators that can be seen on many of the boats anchored around St. Thomas to the giant Altamont Pass Windfarm located east of San Francisco, California. (Picture courtesy of Dynalogic.) The idea is simple. Let the wind rotate wind turbines (these are essentially the same as the propellers on airplanes) which are connected to electric generators. There are many countries now using wind power to supplement their electrical power needs.

Among the things you may wish to include your report are:

• An outline of the components in a wind generation system.
• The capabilites and limitations of wind power.
• The economics of wind generated electricity.
• How viable are commercial wind generator systems here on STT and in the Caribbean generally.
• How viable are home generator units?

There are many sites with technical information concerning wind velocities and power generation. The following sites will get you started:

• Wind Energy in California from the California Energy Commission

• Wind Generation Information from Denmark.

• A book and website list on wind generation.

• Analysis for a home generator system Part 1 and Part 2 by Mick Sagrillo.

Standard search engines for your own search.

• All The Web

• Lycos

• Ask Jeeves

• Yahoo

• Alta Vista