A Less Mighty Wind - Three reasons wind power could wane

ieee spectrum ^ | January 2011 | Peter Fairley

[Kirkwood]

Wind turbines wring energy out of a free-flowing fuel ­supply that may be losing some of its punch. Surface winds appear to be weakening across the Northern Hemisphere, including in the United States, Western Europe, and China—the world's top three markets for wind power. And climate change threatens to weaken them further during this century as faster warming over northern ­latitudes trims the temperature gradients that energize airflows.

[Kirkwood]

The comments section is great.

[Army Air Corps]

And climate change threatens to weaken them further during this century as faster warming over northern ­latitudes trims the temperature gradients that energize airflows.

It is so warm that I am wearing a sweater indoors.

[Army Air Corps]

Ping.

[Army Air Corps]

Ping.

[umgud]

Globul warming, globul icing and now we have globul winding?

[quantim]

[DBrow]

Surface winds are weakening because all the windmills are draining kinetic energy from the wind and turning it into randomized heat.

If you suck a gigajoule out of the wind, it’s gone from the wind, and nothing puts it back. /s

[Kirkwood]

I love this comment - I think it is a FReeper:

“Not only did Doug hit the nail on the head about wind power, this Global Warming mantra is pure poppycock. Junk science coupled with media hype and greedy grant takers = a misinformed populace.”

[freedumb2003]

[Kirkwood]

This one made me laugh:

“What isn’t clear is how removing energy from surface winds affects our environment. This is the danger we all face when politicians spew global warming rhetoric with questionable science. The rush to remove wind from the weather system may cause much more climate change than carbon ever did. Or it may not. We haven’t studied it because it’s carbon neutral, and that makes it politically (although not scientifically) correct.”

[samtheman]

The layers of BS that accumulate from the GW myth are like ash falling out of the sky after a mega-volcanic eruption.

For years we were told weather will get more extreme, hurricanes will get more extreme, wind speed will INCREASE.

All because of GW.

Now GW is causing wind speed to DECREASE.

Like Larry David told the weatherman out on the golf course, there’s a jetstream of bullsh1t coming out of the warmists mouths!

[Benchim]

Wind power is a cruel joke. The cost per kilowatt hour generated has been estimated at 10 times what you pay now including the cost of repair of the the generators that burn out in 18 months. The scarring of the land and view of these horrible dinosaurs is unbelievable. STOP THEM NOW!!!Give me the use of Natural gas and coal!!! We have tons of it (bad pun)

[Lakeshark]

The comments? Some of these people are lunatics, and they claim to be scientists.

The wind is predictable? What planet are they living on?

[Kirkwood]

Near the end of the article:

"Brand's modeling suggests that wind farms must be spaced at least 10 to 30 kilometers apart to keep speed reductions from such shadows below 0.5 meters per second—and even that reduction translates to a 14 percent power loss for a turbine seeing 9.5-m/s wind instead of 10 m/s. Brand says this Dutch problem could become a diplomatic dispute, because the United Kingdom has plans of its own to build what would be three of the world's largest offshore wind farms just upwind of Dutch waters. "These farms are going to produce considerable wind shadows that will affect the most important Dutch zones," says Brand."

[Kirkwood]

There must be a joke in here about passing wind. LOL.

[mylife]

♪ Ive been walking in a windshadow ♫ Windshadow ♫ Windshadow ♪

[John Valentine]

There must be a joke in here about passing wind. LOL.

How about breaking wind? See post 10 above.

[spokeshave]

"Surface winds are weakening because all the windmills are draining kinetic energy from the wind and turning it into randomized heat.

WTF...they got this in China also...

there was an article posted here last year about some huge wind power developments in China....

seems that no only the surface winds dropped....but rainfall declined...

net result...less agricultural production.

[hinckley buzzard]

For 20 years we have been told that “climate change” will intensify weather. Now we hear it will moderate the very wind and becalm us. I wish these so-called experts would quit whoring after grant money and do some science for awhile.