Solar Energy Vs Wind Energy Essay

When it comes to the topic of investing the government 's money, one controversial issue has been whether or not we are spending it properly. On the one hand, some people will argue that the government should invest more money expanding oil and gas. While others contend developing wind and solar energy would be the smartest way to go. Mark Lewis argues that oil prices could stay so low that is no longer economic to bring in high cost new oil fields. But even if the oil price does rise, it will not be able to compete with a renewable such as solar and wind. 1. Recent studies like these shed new light on wind and solar energy, which previous studies had not addressed.
Wind energy is one of the fastest-growing aspects of renewable energy in the United States. The wind generates electricity by turning the blades of turbines. About 3% of the total electricity in the United States was generated by wind turbines in 2012, which is tantamount to the annual electricity use for about 12 million households. “The amount of electricity generated by wind has increased from about 6 billion kilowatt hours in 2000 to 140 billion kilowatt hours in 2012.” 2. Wind energy is a clean fuel source. It does not pollute the air like …show more content…
Good wind sites are often located in remote locations, far from cities where the electricity is actually needed. Transmission lines must be built to bring the electricity from the wind farm to the city. Turbines may cause noise and pollution. Although wind power plants have relatively little impact on the environment compared to other conventional power plants, there is some concern over the noise produced by the rotor blades, visual impacts. The turbine blades may also cause damage to local wildlife. There are some insistences where birds have been kills by flying into the rotors. Yet, most of these problems have been resolved or reduced through technological development or by properly sitting wild