Wind energy 101

Renewable energy basics

Discover the many benefits to using renewable energy resources, but what is it exactly? From solar to wind, it’s the fastest-growing source of energy in the world – and how we can use it to combat climate change.

Wind turbines explained

Wind turbines have powered homes since 1887, and today they’re stronger, quieter, and more reliable than ever. Offshore wind could power millions and grow fast enough to meet climate goals.

Wind energy is categorized into land-based, distributed, and offshore types

Distributed wind turbines efficiently serve on-site energy needs, while land-based turbines are large and generate cost-competitive electricity. Offshore wind turbines capture powerful winds above the ocean and may be pounded into the seafloor using pile drivers or built to float above water at scales larger than the Statue of Liberty.

Explore an interactive graphic of a wind turbine's components

Wind turbines contain a gearbox that increases the rotation of the blades by a factor of 100 from low to high-speed shafts. The latter moves magnets that change the magnetic field within a generator, creating electricity.

Wind turbines are limited to capturing no more than 59.3% of incoming wind energy

In 1919, German physicist Albert Betz applied the laws of conservation of mass and momentum to airstreams to calculate the theoretical limit. However, real-world turbines only convert 35 to 45% of available wind energy into electricity.

Find out how much energy in the US comes from renewable sources and other FAQs

Browse frequently asked questions about renewables, from the amount of energy production by state to the cost of electricity generation by power source.

Wind is the movement of air caused by the sun's uneven heating of Earth

The tilt, curvature, and variations in Earth's surface composition across the globe cause different regions to receive different amounts of solar radiation. As the Earth spins and tries to achieve thermal equilibrium, air masses move and interact, creating wind.

Wind farms are targets for conspiracy theories due to their visibility and complexity

The proliferation of misinformation and conspiracy theories surrounding wind farms is driven by deep-seated anxieties about change, distrust of government, and resistance to confronting the complexities of modern energy solutions.

Understanding the power grid and how renewable sources fit in

The power grid is evolving to include ever-higher levels of solar and wind, which don’t provide inertia. Should system planners and operators panic?

Maintenance, curtailment, congestion, and wind speed can park a wind turbine

Wind turbines are optimized to operate at wind speeds between about 10 and 80 kph, but an internal brake stops them if energy is not required. Routine preventative maintenance and cleaning also prevent blades from rotating.

Check out this interactive 3D animation of a virtual renewable energy-powered island

The US Department of Energy’s Renewable Energy Discovery (REDi) Island invite explorers to discover clean, renewable energy options by navigating a virtual island filled with energy efficient power generation and desalinization technologies.

Agricultural land remains mostly unchanged after wind projects

From 2012 to 2020, less than 0.05% of available US farmland had commercial wind turbines installed. More than 95% of this land lacks wind farm structures such as turbine pads or roads, leaving most cropland and pasture-rangeland unchanged.

View US solar energy industry trends and trajectories, tracked by SEIA

The Solar Energy Industries Association provides charts summarizing the state of solar energy in the US, including cumulative solar installations, solar jobs, photovoltaic pricing and deployment, and inflation and supply chain constraints within the market.

Their 1901 Wind Tunnel system revolutionized the study of aeronautics

Only the second to be built in the US, the wind tunnel allowed the brothers to study how air moves around more than 200 different wing shapes. This data helped them refine a key math equation, long held as the standard, that had been based only on one wing shape.

Learn all about different types of extreme weather

Find out in more detail about different types of extreme weather, from flooding to thunderstorms, from tropical cyclones to sandstorms, and more (w/ helpful videos).

Wind helps trees develop resistance to collapse

Scientists at Biosphere 2 found that trees grew faster in the facility than those in the wild but collapsed more quickly when replanted outdoors. Researchers uncovered that trees build resistance when pushed and pulled due to wind stress, strengthening their foundational root systems.

Some renewable energy sources may weaken the resiliency of electric grids by removing outage buffers provided by coal- and natural gas-fired plants, which provide the system with more time to find a new power source if a plant goes down.

A primer on 5G and how it works

You see it mentioned in countless commercials, and your phone might already use it, but do you know what it is? Watch this five-minute primer on the basics of 5G.

The science of springtime, 101

Dive into the basics on springtime including the astronomy that brings it about, natural signs of spring's arrival, and some of the cultural approaches to the season.

Electromagnetic induction creates electricity from a changing magnetic field

The phenomenon was discovered in 1831 by Michael Faraday when an electric current was induced in a wire wrapped around an iron ring after a second wrapped wire not connected to the first was connected or disconnected from a battery.

Shoelaces 101

This website is a comprehensive resource dedicated to shoelaces, offering tutorials, photos, and information on various aspects of the overlooked everyday item. Optimize your lacing technique, read through the history, and learn other new things.

Understanding turbulence, which is characterized by growing chaos at multiple scales

As energy is lost in fluids undergoing turbulent, non-linear flow, particles will collectively form eddies, or whirlpools, of various sizes that mix together. The energy cascade of larger eddies becoming smaller ones before dissipating completely varies based on the initial conditions of the fluid, a characteristic feature of chaotic systems.

Explore the human and environmental resources needed to make an electric vehicle

The minerals needed to build batteries for electric vehicles are expensive and often take a human toll paid by the communities where they are mined. This interactive article details what minerals make up an electric vehicle battery, where they come from, and dangers posed by the mining process.

How solar systems form

Learn how our sun, the planets, and other solar system bodies came to be with these videos and an infographic from NASA. Use this resource to visualize how the solar system formed and to model and describe the process.

Red wine, 101

How does a bottle of red wine get to the table? In this podcast episode from VinePair, tastings director Keith Beavers covers this wide-ranging wine category. Learn about the entire process of red wine production, from grape to glass. The episode provides a great starting line for general wine knowledge and a jumping-off point into individual varieties or regions.

A step-by-step guide to the plastic recycling process

Everything you wanted to know about how plastic is recycled, the companies that collect and recycle plastic, where you can recycle, and much more.

Learn how to read a prospectus, the juicy document that any company must file with the SEC before going public.

How fusion—which releases energy when two lighter atoms combine to form a heavier atom—differs from fission

The history of many kitchen appliances involves unexpected discoveries and applications, including wartime radar turned hamster defroster and replacing an 'ice king' with heat-stealing boxes.

How Amazon operates a 'flywheel' business model, a self-reinforcing cycle that drives continuous growth

Hurricanes, which rely on air consistently spinning in the same direction, cannot cross the equator because air curves in opposite directions north and south of it.

Chaos theory—informally known as the butterfly effect—is the reason why weather forecasts are presented with probabilities rather than certainties.

See the 25 of the best photos of auroras from around the world.

See how fireworks are made and learn how metals like magnesium and copper are responsible for different colors.

View the ten deadliest tornadoes in US history.

Watch how deep-sea mining equipment collects and processes polymetallic nodules—metal-rich, potato-shaped rocks—from the ocean floor and creates environmentally damaging plumes of sediments.

Dirty lightning is a thunderstorm created from friction between rising and falling flows of ash and smoke during volcanic eruptions.

After 25 people used virtual reality headsets to practice flying with virtual wings—flapping their arms—their visual cortex responded to the wings almost as if they were real arms, treating them as body parts.

Pure water does not conduct electricity because this flow of energy requires the movement of charged particles, and water is a neutral molecule.

Explore the known asteroids, comets, and spacecraft involved in asteroid studies within our solar system with 'Eyes on Asteroids,' a 3D visualization from NASA.

Waves off the coast of Nazaré, Portugal, can reach over 100 feet and are caused by the area's deep underwater canyon geography

A century of Billboard issues documenting the evolution of popular music.

As of 2025, the most cited papers in science include a review of graphene, methods to improve image recognition, streamlining electron density calculations, and optimizing protein studies.

Power lines are dotted with large, brightly colored balls to improve the visibility of these thin wires to helicopters and small planes and help prevent potential crashes.

Legendary architect Frank Lloyd Wright designed the SC Johnson headquarters in Wisconsin, aiming to make a cathedral-like workplace

The word 'jazz' evolved from 'jasm,' 19th-century American slang for 'energy'

The first steps to rebuilding your credit score include getting to know exactly what's on your credit report and figuring out how far you are from the '700 club,' or 'good score' range.

Memecoins are a type of cryptocurrency—a form of digital currency with a wide variety of uses—created around popular 'memes,' or viral internet jokes.

Ebola is a filovirus, meaning it resembles a thread under a microscope, though it sometimes twists and can resemble a bowl of spaghetti.

Listen to an in-depth conversation on the links between Parkinson's disease and herbicide exposure and the challenging pace of scientific investigation.