Since 1980, the use of wind to produce electricity hasbeen growing rapidly. In 1994 there were nearly 20,000 wind turbines worldwide,most grouped in clusters called wind farms that collectively produced 3,000megawatts of electricity. Most were in Denmark (which got 3 percent of itselectricity from wind turbines) and California (where 17,000 machines produced1 percent of the state’s electricity, enough to meet the residential needs of acity as large as San Francisco). In principle, all the power needs of theUnited States could be provided by exploiting the wind potential of just threestates—North Dakota, South Dakota, and Texas.
Large wind farms can be built in six months to a year andthen easily expanded as needed. With a moderate to fairly high net energyyield, these systems emit no heat-trapping carbon dioxide or other airpollutants and need no water for cooling; manufacturing them produces littlewater pollution. The land under wind turbines can be used for grazing cattleand other purposes, and leasing land for wind turbines can provide extra incomefor farmers and ranchers.
Wind power has a significant cost advantage over nuclearpower and has become competitive with coal-fired power plants in many places.With new technological advances and mass production, projected cost declinesshould make wind power one of the world’s cheapest ways to produce electricity.In the long run, electricity from large wind farms in remote areas might beused to make hydrogen gas from water during periods when there is less thanpeak demand for electricity. The hydrogen gas could then be fed into a storagesystem and used to generate electricity when additional or backup power isneeded.
Wind power is most economical in areas with steady winds.In areas where the wind dies down, backup electricity from a utility company orfrom an energy storage system becomes necessary. Backup power could also beprovided by linking wind farms with a solar cell, with conventional orpumped-storage hydropower, or with efficient natural-gas-burning turbines. Somedrawbacks to wind farms include visual pollution and noise, although these canbe overcome by improving their design and locating them in isolated areas.
Large wind farms might also interfere with the flightpatterns of migratory birds in certain areas, and they have killed large birdsof prey (especially hawks, falcons, and eagles) that prefer to hunt along thesame ridge lines that are ideal for wind turbines. The killing of birds of preyby wind turbines has pitted environmentalists who champion wildlife protectionagainst environmentalists who promote renewable wind energy. Researchers areevaluating how serious this problem is and hope to find ways to eliminate orsharply reduce this problem. Some analysts also contend that the number ofbirds killed by wind turbines is dwarfed by birds killed by other human-relatedsources and by the potential loss of entire bird species from possible globalwarming. Recorded deaths of birds of prey and other birds in wind farms in theUnited States currently amount to no more than 300 per year. By contrast, inthe United States an estimated 97 million birds are killed each year when theycollide with buildings made of plate glass, 57 million are killed on highwayseach year; at least 3.8 million die annually from pollution and poisoning; andmillions of birds are electrocuted each year by transmission and distributionlines carrying power produced by nuclear and coal power plants.
The technology is in place for a major expansion of windpower worldwide. Wind power is a virtually unlimited source of energy at favorable sites, and even excludingenvironmentally sensitive areas, the global potential of wind power is muchhigher than the current world electricity use. In theory, Argentina, Canada,Chile, China, Russia, and the United Kingdom could use wind to meet all oftheir energy needs. Wind power is avirtually unlimited source of energy atfavorable sites, and even excluding environmentally sensitive areas, the globalpotential of wind power is much higher than the current world electricity use.In theory, Argentina, Canada, Chile, China, Russia, and the United Kingdomcould use wind to meet all of their energy needs.
参考译文：风力发电
风力发电的运用从1980年起一直迅猛增长。1994年，世界各地有近2万台风力涡轮机，大量风力涡轮机集中在一起组成风力发电场，可共同发电3 000兆瓦。风力发电厂主要集中在丹麦和美国加利福尼亚州，丹麦全国电力的3%来源于风力发电，美国加州风力发电厂17000台涡轮机的发电量占全州电量的1%，足以满足旧金山这种大城市的居住用电需求。全美的电力需求基本上都可以通过挖掘北达科他州、南达科他州和得克萨斯州的风力发电潜力来满足。
大型风力发电场可在6个月至1年内建成，随后可根据需要随时扩建。发电厂里的设备在产出中等至极高净电能的同时，不仅做到了温室气体二氧化碳和其他空气污染物的零排放，并且无需用水对设备进行降温；同时，风力发电基本不会造成水资源污染。风力涡轮机的所在地还可用于放牛等其他用途，农场主和牧场主可以通过土地出租供风力发电来增加额外收入。
风力发电和核电站发电相比具有明显的成本优势，在很多地方与燃煤发电也不相上下。随着新技术的进步和大规模生产，预期的成本下降会使风力发电成为世界上成本最低的发电方式。未来，偏远地区的大型风力发电厂发电量高于用电高峰需求量时，多出的电量可能会为从水中制造氢气提供支持。氢气可以存储起来，在需要额外或后备电源时用来发电。
在风源稳定的地区，风力发电是最经济。在风源不足的地方，需要稳定的备用电力来源，如电力公司、能量储存系统、太阳能电池、传统水力发电机和抽水蓄能，或者燃烧天然气的高效涡轮机。虽然风力发电会带来视觉污染和噪音，不过这些缺陷都可以通过设计的改善以及把它们安排在偏僻地点来弥补。
某些区域的大型风力发电场很可能会影响候鸟的飞行方式，它们杀害了大型猛禽（尤其是老鹰、猎鹰和鹰），这些猛禽喜欢沿着山脊线一带捕食，而这一带也是风力涡轮机的理想之所。针对风力涡轮机对猛禽造成伤害的这一事实，主张保护野生动物的环保主义者和主张发展再生能源的环保主义者各持己见。研究人员还在对这个问题的严重程度进行评估，他们希望能想办法来消除或着大幅减少这个问题。有的分析家评论认为，由风力涡轮机导致的鸟类的死亡数目和由其他人为原因造成的死亡数目以及整个鸟类可能因全球变暖中而死亡数目相比是少之又少。据记载，美国风力发电厂伤害的猛禽和其他禽鸟的死亡数量每年不超过300只。相比之下，在美国估计每年有9700万禽鸟由于碰撞到建筑物的厚玻璃板而死亡，5700万禽鸟死在高速公路上，至少有380万禽鸟死于污染和中毒，每年数以百万计的禽鸟在燃煤电厂和核电厂的输电和配电线缆上触电致死。
促使全球范围内风力发电应用扩张的技术已经到位。在合适的地点，风力发电几乎用之不尽取之不竭，即使排除这些环境敏感地区，全球潜在的风力发电量远高于目前的世界耗电总量。理论上来说，阿根廷、加拿大、智利、中国、俄罗斯和英国可以利用风力来满足他们所有的能源需求。风力发电专家估计，在21世纪中叶，全球超过10%的电力，及美国10%～25％的电力需求都可通过风力发电来满足。
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