As the world moves toward cleaner energy, three major renewable sources are leading the way: solar, wind, and hydropower. Each one offers its own tools and benefits. Fossil fuels like coal, natural gas, nuclear energy, and oil are non-renewable energy sources and often generate massive. Wind power harnesses the kinetic energy of moving air to generate electricity. Advantages of Wind Power: Abundant and Free Resource: Wind is an inexhaustible energy source. Low Operating Costs:. Most electricity is generated with steam turbines that use fossil fuels, nuclear, biomass, geothermal, or solar thermal energy. It's a bit of a good news/bad news situation. The bad news is that overall demand rose appreciably, and a fair chunk of that was met by additional coal use.