Benefits of Wind Energy

The answer to our energy needs may be blowing in the wind.

But although today's image is captured in the elegant wind turbines appearing on our landscape, the idea goes back many centuries.

The use of windmills as a source of energy started in the Persian empire; the idea eventually spread across Europe and the first windmills appeared in the UK from around the 11th century.

Even earlier than that, Australian history depicts the world's first ever wind-assisted "birdmen" from about 15,000 years ago; they were humans with man-made wings leaping from high plateaux and relying on the wind to glide them to a safe landing.

More conventionally, the earliest sailing boats date back thousands of years BC and were probably the first recognised use of the wind to create power and momentum. The first drawing showing a sail is dated at around 3200BC but it's believed they were in use at least 300 years earlier.

In the 1960s, windsurfing became perhaps the latest adaptation.

Kites, balloons, gliders ... all have made use of the power of the wind over the decades.

But today's focus is almost entirely on creating electricity from wind turbines.

The principle has changed little from the earliest windmills, folklore having it that Hero of Alexandria wrote in the second century BC of a simple horizontal axis wind turbine.

There is clear evidence that such machines were actually in use in Persia in the 7th century BC.

From Asia, their use spread to Europe and we know that windmills were in general use in the UK by the Middle Ages.

They were used for simple low energy processes such as water pumping and grain grinding - and still are, in many less developed parts of the world

But the arrival of the steam engine - and the introduction of fossil fuel - gave wind power a back seat from the 18th century.

Now it is the most rapidly growing source of energy and one of the most popular. Opinion surveys show that just over eight out of 10 people are in favour of wind energy, and fewer than one in ten are strongly against it.

It's not a fad or a fancy. The British Government wants to see renewables like wind power contribute to 10% of our energy production by 2010. 

It is clean, green, cheap, quiet, and will never run out; there are no waste products or harmful emissions and it is safe.

Records show that no member of the public has ever been injured during the normal operation of a wind turbine, with over 25 years operating experience and with more than 70,000 machines installed around the world.

A modern wind turbine is simply an improved windmill. And the UK is the windiest country in Europe. It's a simple equation.

And, in the same way that wind has driven everything from a simple sailing dinghy to the biggest clippers in the world, it can be harnessed to create electricity for a whole town or just a tiny community.