Wind energy has been harnessed for millennia using technologies like sailboats and windmills. The document then explains how modern wind turbines work to generate electricity: the wind turns the rotor blades which spin the shaft, and the rotating shaft then turns the generator which uses magnets around a conductor to convert the mechanical energy of the spinning shaft into electrical energy that can power homes and businesses.

1. Energy
Wind
A Review by Beau Peelle

2. Humans have been
harnessing wind
energy for millennia,
from Egyptian
sailboats to Persian
windmills.

3. By this measure, using
wind energy to
generate electricity
isn't a far out idea!
Here's how it works.

4. Rotor and Blades
1
It all starts here

5. Blades are attached to a rotor, for the
purpose of capturing the wind's
mechanical energy. When you see the
blades spin, you're seeing that energy
transfer in action.

6. Blades are attached to a rotor, for the
purpose of capturing the wind's
mechanical energy. When you see the
blades spin, you're seeing that energy
transfer in action.

7. The Shaft
2
Putting it together

8. Just as the rotor turns, so does the shaft
that is attached to it. The shaft is
connected on the other end to the
generator. As it turns, a process begins
that allows the wind's energy to be
converted to electricity.

9. The Generator
3
The powerhouse of the turbine

10. The generator is made
up of two parts: a
conductor and its
surrounding magnets.

11. The generator's magnets are connected
to the shaft. As the shaft turns, the
magnets rotate about the conductor,
which creates electric current.

12. Put simply, voltage is the
energy that allows electricity
to move between two points.
Once the conductor
generates voltage, electricity
is ready to be distributed to
power lines.