Posted on 04/29/2012 11:01:35 PM PDT by DallasBiff
LONDON, April 29 (Reuters) - Large wind farms might have a warming effect on the local climate, research in the United States showed on Sunday, casting a shadow over the long-term sustainability of wind power.
Carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases from burning fossil fuels contribute to global warming, which could lead to the melting of glaciers, sea level rise, ocean acidification, crop failure and other devastating effects, scientists say.
In a move to cut such emissions, many nations are moving towards cleaner energy sources such as wind power.
The world's wind farms last year had the capacity to produce 238 gigawatt of electricity at any one time. That was a 21 percent rise on 2010 and capacity is expected to reach nearly 500 gigawatt by the end of 2016 as more, and bigger, farms spring up, according to the Global Wind Energy Council.
Researchers at the State University of New York at Albany analysed the satellite data of areas around large wind farms in Texas, where four of the world's largest farms are located, over the period 2003 to 2011.
The results, published in the journal Nature Climate Change, showed a warming trend of up to 0.72 degrees Celsius per decade in areas over the farms, compared with nearby regions without the farms.
"We attribute this warming primarily to wind farms," the study said. The temperature change could be due to the effects of the energy expelled by farms and the movement and turbulence generated by turbine rotors, it said.
"These changes, if spatially large enough, may have noticeable impacts on local to regional weather and climate," the authors said.
(Excerpt) Read more at reuters.com ...
Because the relatively low power output (as compared to other methods of generating electricity) and millions of dead birds were not, in fact, causing doubts about wind farms.
The seasons will be changing with the varied tilt of the earth's axis and the longer days and longer nights, but the temperatures would not be changed. Nights tend to cool off what the sun did the day before.
I have a PhD.
the bottom line for the granola crunchers.
There is no globull warming.. there is no threat to the temp from windmills... when it comes to the environment... there is only racketeering and the worship of false gods.
LLS
We would be better off if we were using some of the 10s of thousands of small and medium sized dams in this country to produce hydroelectric power.
But nope, we’re tearing dams out to let the rivers run free.
“Carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases from burning fossil fuels contribute to global warming, which could lead to the melting of glaciers, sea level rise, ocean acidification, crop failure and other devastating effects, scientists say.”
Gotta love that alarmism, lol.
“Somebodys confusing heat transfer and heat creation”
Wind turbines convert wind velocity to electric power. Energy is extracted from the wind. The turbines reduce the velocity of the wind and, I believe, cool the air slightly because the speed of the air molecules is reduced.
I have a high school education, and know almost nothing about the effects of wind farms on the spin of the earth. BUT, this one thing I do know as a West Texan those wind farms and cattle feed lots don’t mix. PU
Adding resistance (friction) to a moving system does not create cooling. It creates heat.
Since prior to hitting the turbine blades, the individual air molecules are moving at the same speed as those around them, their is no air resistance at that point generating heat, until it hits the turbine blades.
Well if that were the case, we'd all be burning to death up here in Maine where we have a tree every square yard.
The only way they produce any heat is when we burn them.
Hydro is virtually drawback free and has multiple beneficial side effects. The modern small hydro turbine technologies are very low maintenance high output.
Someone quacks in Albany just pimped some more stimulus money in the form of a grant. Out tax dollars at work.
I wasn’t trying to claim it was significant heat. But adding wind resistance is not going to provide cooling.
Yes folks, that's up to zeropointseventwo degrees per decade! (While day-night variations are easily 25+ °C.) They're certain to a hundredth of a degree!
Just how stupid do these people think we are?
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