Wind power is the process by which wind turbines, acting like propeller blades, turn in the moving air and convert kinetic energy in the wind into electricity. This is one of the most simple of the utilized natural power sources on Earth. Harnessing the power of the wind is not a new concept. Even in ancient civilizations, wind was known to be a source of energy that could be harvested to benefit the society. People have used wind to move boats across oceans, to scatter grains and separate them from the shaft, to pump water, and more recently to supply electricity for small towns. As many other renewable energy sources, wind is very appealing for a modern source of power because it is a force that is always free and abundant. Wind is also a clean source of energy because wind turbines emit no air pollutants, or hazardous waste. Besides, wind power doesn’t deplete natural resources or threaten wildlife.

        Although wind power is an economical and safe mean to generate electricity, this resource is not used extensively for three main reasons. The first reason that wind generation is not popular is that wind generation plants are extremely loud. The second reason is that wind power suffers from the same lack of energy density as direct solar radiation. The fact that it is a very diffuse source means that large numbers of wind generators (and thus large land areas) are required to produce useful amounts of heat or electricity. But wind turbines cannot be erected everywhere simply because many places are not windy enough for suitable power generation. When an appropriate place is found, building and maintaining a wind farm can be costly. The third reason is that power plants are not reliable enough for modern lives. If there are a few calm days, an entire city could be out of power. However, surplus wind power can be stored as hydrogen and used in fuel cells or gas turbines to generate electricity, leveling supply when winds are variable. Believe or not, this is an idea that has gained many supporters around the world; wind has the potential to manufacture fuel for a new generation of cars that would break the nation’s dependence on Middle East oil.

        Nowadays, wind energy can be considered the world’s fastest growing source of energy and has become one of the most rapidly expanding industries. For example, in the U.S. over 3,000 MW of wind power has been installed, enough electricity to power approximately half a million homes. While ten years ago, California and Hawaii were the only states with significant wind power in place; there are now 26 states featuring wind development. In principle, 20 percent of the nation’s energy is feasible with current technology –the same share that nuclear energy enjoys but without the drawbacks of this energy source.

        Prospects for increased production of wind power facilities looks promising, especially taking into consideration the potential wind power in the United States. The future outlook of wind power is even better if we consider its many advantages. Wind power's advantage over other renewable technologies is that it is nearer to competing on price, and there are literally thousands of sites where wind turbines could be built which are currently untapped. With wind turbines relatively quick to erect, wind farms can be in operation in months - compared with as many years it would take for a new nuclear station to be built, for example. Since the start of the United States wind power experiments, the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA) estimates that the cost of producing wind energy has decreased by about 80%, "from about 38 cents per kilowatt-hour in the early 1980s to a current range of 3 to 6 cents/kWh depending on the wind site." Wind energy is therefore cheaper than any other new electric generation except natural gas, which emits one pound of greenhouse gases for every kilowatt-hour of electricity it generates. Wind is also immune to price fluctuations, unlike other energy sources which frequently roil energy markets.