ABSTRACT
This chapter provides insight into the potential contribution of wind power. After a brief historical review of the use of wind energy for millennia and the technical aspects of wind harnessing, an estimate is made of which technologies may be the most appropriate, given the environmental problems they could cause and how to avoid or mitigate them. In terms of sustainability, the most relevant wind energy issues besides the technical, environment, and economical are societal and political ones. Wind carries kinetic energy in the air as it flows. This energy can be converted into electrical energy by power converting machines or directly used for pumping water, grinding grains, sailing ships, or in other applications, as done in ancient times. The most practical devices to capture the kinetic energy of the wind and convert it in rotational movement have always been turbines. They can rotate around a horizontal or vertical axis.
