Alarming studies: global warming caused by wind turbines?

Blackout News ^ | 10/24/2022 | Blackout News

[aimhigh]

Opponents of wind power have always known and been mocked, but now serious studies prove them right: Wind turbines can apparently really increase global warming. They may even trigger droughts (German business news, October 19, 2022).

The fact that wind turbines are environmentally friendly was previously considered almost undisputed by the general public. Some residents were only bothered by their noise and appearance. But that's probably not their biggest problem. The latest findings suggest that at least larger wind farms are heating up the climate regionally and thus increasing the risk of local droughts. Among other things, a study by ArcVera Renewables shows that the wind turbines inhibit precipitation in their area and increase the temperature. Both can lead to a drought. Thus, the interactions between a wind turbine and its surrounding air layers strongly affect the moisture and heat flows between the earth's surface and the atmosphere.

The wind turbines slow down the air flow as it hits the rotor and swirls it around as it leaves. This is a problem, especially for large wind farms. They remove moisture from the atmosphere and additionally heat the ground. The complex exchange of air creates turbulence, which dries out the surrounding fields and meadows. The physical process is called the wake effect, is particularly observed in summer and is now considered to be well documented with data. The wake effect increases with higher wind turbines and larger rotor blades. There are more studies on the subject. One was done by Harvard University meteorologists and they published it on ScienceDirect in 2018, entitled “Climatic impacts of wind power”. The climate in the vicinity of US onshore wind farms was examined. The Harvard researchers demonstrated that the overturning of natural temperature layers in the vicinity of the wind farms studied causes higher average temperatures and lower soil moisture. Accordingly, the turbine effect during the day moves cold air from higher air layers down and warmer air, including moist soil air, up. The opposite effect occurs at night. This significantly increases the average temperature two meters above the ground.

In 2019, the German press reported that the 1,300 offshore and 29,000 onshore wind turbines installed in Germany at the time had caused a temperature increase of 0.27 °C over a period of five years. The research in question came from the University of Wageningen in the Netherlands. The first US studies on the subject date back to 2004.

[lizma2]

BKMK

[KSCITYBOY]

btt

[for-q-clinton]

It’s all fake news. But they are pushing this now that Germany needs a reason to go back to coal and oil.

[ProtectOurFreedom]

"...wind turbines move cold air from higher air layers down and warmer air, including moist soil air, up. The opposite effect occurs at night. This significantly increases the average temperature two meters above the ground."

If only orchardists had known about this they might have saved many trees from frost and freeze damage over the years...

The article describes a local phenomenon. But, on a continental scale, removing that much energy from the atmosphere will LOWER average air temperatures. A colleague in the early 90s ran the numbers for Western Europe if all of its energy needs were met with wind. He calculated that the average air temperature in Western Europe would drop a couple of degrees with that much energy removed from the atmosphere.

[tet68]

Surprise, surprise, surprise!

Imagine that, the solution is causing the problem !!

[Tench_Coxe]

I guess its back to basics. What causes wind? What does moving air do?

[crusty old prospector]

Friction is another factor.

[Jeff Chandler]

Ironic, eh?

[Gaffer]

I’ve opined here before about the effects of large scale wind reaping turbines on the lower atmosphere landscape.

Essentially, it goes back to Adam Selene in MIAHM from Heinlein. TINSTAFFL.

[AndyTheBear]

All methods to produce energy have some environmental impact in their own ways. Seems to me that environmental groups selectively exaggerate the impact of the methods that are currently providing our needs but ignore the impact of the alternative less ready or less practical methods. Thus do they always have a cause to fight against and a cause to fight for and thus a reason to solicit donations and enjoy a feeling of accomplishment for accomplishing nothing but harm.

[blueunicorn6]

EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEK!!!!!

[Magnum44]

Its simple physics that converting energy usually releases heat. This is taking kinetic energy from the wind and converting it to mechanical energy of the wind turbine blades and eventually to electrical energy from the generator motor. Heat will be produced. My guess is its not a contributor to global warming in the desert. Now, cutting down trees to put up the wind turbines in the eastern mountains, I do believe contributes to loss of natural cooling of the Earth locally, just like black topping a parking lot where an orchard may have previously existed would.

[Flick Lives]

The solution causes the problem.

[qaz123]

There isn’t one thing that the Left does that is beneficial to humanity or the animal kingdom or the planet.

Yes, hippies will get on large boats and clean the ocean of garbage. But, only after the form a 501(c)(3) non-profit, where they take a very healthy salary and then spend their days taking selfies while local folks, getting paid about $20 a day, do all the work.

Yet another shining example of slinging as much sh*t as possible against the wall and making someone else clean it up.

[hflynn]

I guess Blackout News never got memo. Global Warming has been so debunked it had to be replaced by Climate Change. How else can they reach the hearts and minds of those of us who still freeze our asses off a good part of the year.

[MrBambaLaMamba]

The constant beating of the air by the turbine blades creates heat and causes the atmosphere to develop battered breeze pathology which results in either more or less rain with corresponding floods or drought.

[rdcbn1]

Global warming is caused by photovoltaic solar cells

[dsrtsage]

“ that much energy removed from the atmosphere.”

Energy is neither created, nor destroyed. All of it eventually returns to the atmosphere as heat though diffused over a larger area and not useful. Though technically, it will heat the atmosphere as removing the energy from the wind will make it unavailable to transfer its heat to water surfaces thus reducing its ability to evaporate water which brings its energy to the stratosphere where it can more efficiently radiate to space. It takes a relatively enormous amount of energy to evaporate water, and it is removed from the ocean or lake or whatever thus cooling it. You can see this effect by putting two bowls of water out in the same room. One, out in the open and one in front of a fan and see which one goes dry the fastest.

[oldasrocks]

The windmills slow the wind just enough to change the climate.