Wind Farms Could Raise Temperatures

TG Daily ^ | March 14, 2010 | Emma Woollacott

[raptor22]

Opponents of land-based wind farms have a new ally in the form of MIT. Researchers there say that, far from mitigating global warming, land-based wind turbines actually increase the temperature around them.With the US Department of Energy expecting wind power to account for a fifth of the US’s electricity supply by 2030, the team used a climate model to analyze the effects of millions of wind turbines on the climate.

Such a massive deployment could indeed make a difference, they found - though not necessarily a welcome one.

Ron Prinn, TEPCO Professor of Atmospheric Science, and principal research scientist Chien Wang of the Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences suggest that using wind turbines to meet 10 percent of global energy demand in 2100 could cause temperatures to rise by one degree Celsius in the regions on land where they're installed.

[Cobra64]

What will actually happen is that eventually, the Earth will stop spinning on its axis.

[ApplegateRanch]

It is really simple. All you have to do is think like a Lib...perhaps a brain decortication can help with that. ;-’)

[Gene Eric]

It would be cool to capture stress and pressure generation at the base of large structures affected by translation due to internal or external forces - assuming people wouldn’t mind wobbly buildings.

Imagine the energy an earthquake could generate!

[dhs12345]

Lol. Butterfly effect. Only these monstrosities are much bigger than butterflies.

[SunkenCiv]

Especially broken wind.

[SunkenCiv]

With the US Department of Energy expecting wind power to account for a fifth of the US's electricity supply by 2030

...the DOE spokesman put down the crack pipe long enough to point out the need for complete dismantling and deindustrializing of American society. Thanks ApplegateRanch.

[DBrow]

Then there is the effect of taking gigawatts out of the atmosphere to power cell phone chargers...

[terycarl]

they are also extremely noisy they pulse and you can hear and feel them, very unpleasant

[Hoodat]

If wind farms aren’t good enough for the Kennedys, then they aren’t good enough for me.

[raptor22]

Kerry and Kennedy opposed the Cape Wind project off Nantucket because they thought it would spoil their iceann views, even though it would be a speck on the horizon. We have gone from NIMBYs to BANANAs - build absolutely nothing anywhere near anybody.

[kittycatonline.com]

I would think the whole “wind will stop” think would have been seen from day 1. Whatever forward motion existed in the blowing wind is turned into rotational motion by the turbine; thus removing that much forward motion (i.e. wind). Ergo, you ain’t got no more wind.

[xp38]

cool

[Western Phil]

“We have used powered wind-machines, although much smaller than the ones used to generate electrical power, to mix the warmer air in the inversion layer with the colder air at ground level to raise the ground level temperature.”

An interesting application.

How far above the surface of the earth is your inversion layer? It must be relatively low to be useful for your purpose. I have seen atmospheric refection effects on the horizon here in the Illinois plains from early morning inversions, but have no idea on what its elevation may be.

The Twin Groves Windfarm fans extend to 400 ft. But I suspect that there are no inversions present when they are running.

[Arthur McGowan]

It will lose energy, but rather than being cooler, it will just be slowed down.

[matthew fuller]

"If the atmosphere transfers work to the windmills, the atmosphere will have less enery than it had before. This generally means it will be somewhat COOLER."

This will be mainly offset by the longer days, caused by the slowing of the Earth's rotation by the propellers. (s/)

[Parmy]

The inversion layers vary. The towers are 35' plus the length of the blade. They are just 2 blades. Powered by several types of engines depending on the manufacture. 454 chevy, 460 fords, now the V10's.

The object is to start the fan operating before one needs the benefit of the warmer air. If the fan is started too late, then there is a temperature drop until the fan punches a hole in the inversion to bring the warmer air down. I have been late and have damaged the crop by doing this.

Depending on the temperature of the overriding air mass, the temperature can increase 2 to 10 degrees in the fan wash. Depending on the vulnerability of the fruit buds or flowers, that is enough to save the crop.

Any more questions, don't hesitate to post me.

[BillM]

The first Law of Thermodynamics states that energy can neither be created nor destroyed. If energy is transferred to the windmill from the air, the air WILL cool. The effects that you describe in the orchard or vineyard just move the air around exchanging warmer air aloft for the cooler surface layer. In the case where the fans are driven by power to move the air, the heat transfer is from the fan blade TO the air! The power generating windmill moves the energy from the air to the blade.

[Parmy]

What you say is undoubtedly true, but there is a warm inversion above the cold air at the surface, even in the winter. And what the fans do is cause the minicus(sp) layer to be penetrated so the warmer air can be mixed with the colder air to raise the surface temperature above the critical point that would damage the fruit buds.

We have done this for years, and it works. There are other factors in play here as well. For instance, the effectiveness of the fans ability to raise the temperature depends upon the dew point. The higher the dew point, the more the temperature can be raised, conversely, the lower the dew point, the less effective the fans are in raising the temperature.

[BillM]

This attempts to explain the dew point thing.