As we’ve learned, renewable energy is great in many ways, but since it’s a natural resource, it can be affected by the weather, thus making it inconsistent at times.
Renewable Energy: The energy generated by wind is inconsistent because the wind doesn’t blow all the time.
Because of that, wind turbines can’t generate electricity around the clock. This is why it’s essential to store the energy produced by wind in batteries, then make it available when needed for our communities.
Non-Renewable Energy: Energy sources such as oil, natural gas, and coal are more readily available because we can simply increase combustion during periods of peak energy consumption.
However, the utilization of these energy sources has detrimental effects on both the environment and human health due to the emissions they produce.
When the wind isn’t blowing, the wind turbines can’t turn and therefore, can’t generate kinetic energy. This lack of electricity generation can cause problems during peak hours of energy demand.
As modern humans, most of us follow a similar day-to-day schedule. For example, many of us use electricity early in the morning when we’re getting ready for the day, and again when we return home at the end of the day, but less at night when we’re asleep. These are what we call ‘on-peak’ and ‘off-peak’ hours.
In the next section, we’ll learn how wind power can be stored in battery storage systems so we have access to power when we need it!