The conversion of wind energy to various other useful forms, like electricity, is known as wind power. Wind energy is converted into these forms using wind turbines.

Wind energy can be converted into electrical energy by the use of an electrical generator.

The first use of wind energy was through wind mills. Wind mills had engines which used to produce energy using wind. This energy was usually used in rural and agricultural areas for grinding, pumping, hammering and various farm needs. Even today, wind energy is used in large scale wind farms to provide electricity to rural areas and other far reaching locations. Wind energy is being used extensively in areas like Denmark Germany Spain India and in some areas of the United States of America. It is one of the largest forms of Green Energy used in the world today. Wind Energy is highly practical in places where the wind speed is 10 mph.

Like old fashioned windmills, today wind machines use blades to collect the wind kinetic energy. Windmills work because they slow down the speed of the wind. The wind flows over the airfoil shaped blades causing lift, like the effect on airplane wings, causing them to turn. The blades are connected to a drive shaft that turns an electric generator to produce electricity.With the new wind machines, there is still the problem of what to do when the wind isnt blowing. At those times, other types of power plants must be used to make electricity.

There are two types of wind machines (turbines) used today based on the direction of the rotating shaft (axis): horizontal axis wind machines and vertical-axis wind machines. The size of wind machines varies widely. Small turbines used to power a single home or business may have a capacity of less than 100 kilowatts. Some large commercial sized turbines may have a capacity of 5 million watts, or 5 megawatts. Larger turbines are often grouped together into wind farms that provide power to the electrical grid.

Most wind machines being used today are the horizontal-axis type. Horizontal-axis wind machines have blades like airplane propellers. A typical horizontal wind machine stands as tall as a 20-story building and has three blades that span 200 feet across. The largest wind machines in the world have blades longer than a football field! Wind machines stand tall and wide to capture more wind.

Vertical-axis wind machines have blades that go from top to bottom and the most common type looks like a giant two-bladed egg beaters. The type of vertical wind machine typically stands 100 feet tall and 50 feet wide. Vertical-axis wind machines make up only a very small percent of the wind machines used today.