Posted on 10/04/2018 9:14:37 PM PDT by Olog-hai
Ramping up wind power in America would also dial up the nation’s temperatures, a new study out of Harvard found.
While wind energy is widely celebrated as environmentally friendly, the researchers concluded that a dramatic, all-out expansion in the number of turbines could warm the country even more than climate change from burning coal and other fossil fuels, because of the way the spinning blades disturb the layers of warm and cold air in the atmosphere.
Some parts of the central United States are already seeing nights that are up to 2 degrees Fahrenheit (1.1 degrees Celsius) warmer because of nearby wind farms, said study lead author Lee Miller, an environmental scientist at Harvard.
“Any big energy system has an environmental impact,” said Harvard engineering and physics professor David Keith, a study co-author. “There is no free lunch. You do wind on a scale big enough … it’ll change things.”
The researchers and other scientists stressed that climate change from greenhouse gas emissions is clearly a far bigger threat globally and over the long term than turbine-caused warming, which is temporary and stops when the blades aren’t turning.
Despite the potential drawbacks, wind energy still makes more sense for the environment than fossil fuels, Keith said.
It’s just that advocates of wind power have been ignoring growing evidence of a downside, he said. …
(Excerpt) Read more at apnews.com ...
I can see how turbines could be a factor in keeping moisture from getting into the soil and drying it out.
“Right now, wind provides 6.3 percent of the nation’s electricity, according to the American Wind Energy Association.”
In Texas, 16% of the electricity generated is from wind.
Old news ...was a story about this problem in China a couple of years ago.
Really, wind power is going to warm things. That is the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard. The only reason for the libs not to like it is that the wind power lobby hasn’t kicked enough money to the right people like solar has, which is an even stupider source of power.
“Green Energy” has been a scam from the start.
It’s not that I think wind power is the greatest thing around but at least it’s showing some results. What percentage is solar contributing? I’ll bet it isn’t 16%. The only thing solar is good for is for well-placed liberals to start up a company, load up on govt. subsidies, and then skip the country.
The only “problem” with wind power is that their lobby isn’t kicking enough money to the right liberals. The fiction of how it’s somehow actually bad for the environment is the stupidest crap ever. First it was supposed to screw up weather and aviation radar. If that were true, aircraft would be crashing all over Wyoming.
Then it was supposed to be some kind of terrible noise problem. Funny, I have family that live 1/4 mile from wind turbines. I’ve personally driven up and touched towers, never heard a thing until I got out of the car. It was orders of magnitude quieter than a desk fan, a car driving past on the freeway half a mile away would drown out its sound.
Now it magically dries out the countryside and magically warms things up. Totally stupid. This garbage is written by idiot millenials that seriously think that the earth is flat. If it were otherwise, the bottoms of your shoes would be curved down at the heels and toes to match the curved earth. They’re so stupid and lazy that they figure any great achievement like space travel has to be made up. It’s projection. They’ve never accomplished anything in their lives and have no gumption to, so they just think everybody is like that. Accomplishment nothing, it was all made up.
FGS, you can see wind farms on a clear radar...so how is it even debatable that they affect atmospheric conditions?
Plus, they are a blight on the landscape, will be nearly impossible to deal with as they rot....and they kill birds.
another thing Trump was right about.
5 Oct: Bloomberg: Revealing the Dark Side of Wind Power
Surprising new research suggests harvesting cleaner energy may have serious consequences for the environment.
By Mark Buchanan
Moreover, they found that wind plants encompassing the largest areas had the lowest power densities, as expected.
This figure implies that meeting current U.S. electricity needs alone would require wind farms to cover fully 12 percent of the U.S. land area…
https://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2018-10-04/wind-power-isn-t-as-clean-as-we-thought-it-was
then there’s this!
7 June 2018: Daily Mail: Britain Becalmed: Turbines across the UK are at a STANDSTILL after wind ‘disappears’ for a week causing a two-year low in electricity production
•Since the start of June, wind farms have been producing barely any electricity
•The ‘wind drought’ has meant turbines have generated less than two per cent of the country’s power this month
By Joe Pinkstone
Forecasts show the calm conditions will continue until the middle of the month...
A drop-off like this in winter could be catastrophic should the UK become reliant upon renewable energy sources...
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-5812811/Wind-turbines-standstill-wind-disappears-thew-UK.html
Exactly...and let me reiterate...they are hideously ugly. We have (had) a beautiful landscape in this country. These things are an entirely unnecessary aesthetic blight for very little to no gain...other that to those who receive subsidies.
I would rather have the occasional stench of a hog confinement operation nearby.
Asphalt and other heat absorbing structure in cities has a similar effect on areas to the east.
Drive along SR180 from West Texas to the New Mexico border, and all you see for miles and miles are wind turbines. Each needs a backup power supply (run by fossil fuel) and transmission lines to bring converted electrons to the ERCOT grid. People don’t realize how dependent wind farms are on baseload power sources.
“The climate effect of burning fossil fuels is cumulative,” Caldeira said in an email. “The longer you run a coal plant, the worse the climate change gets. In contrast, the climate effect of wind turbines is what it is. You build the wind turbine. Climate is affected. But as long as you run the wind turbine, the climate change doesn’t get any worse. So in the long run, as far as the climate is concerned, wind turbines are obviously better than fossil fuels.”
Except that you are affecting YEARLY rainfall & other weather events (thus crop yields) in the very areas that produce most of your food, you IDIOT.
Don't any of you worry about it though...we'll just make up for the lack of rain & disrupted weather patterns with a healthy dose of Brawndo.
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/wind-power-found-to-affect-local-climate/
bookmark
While wind energy is widely celebrated as environmentally friendly, the researchers concluded that a dramatic, all-out expansion in the number of turbines could warm the country even more than climate change from burning coal and other fossil fuels, because of the way the spinning blades disturb the layers of warm and cold air in the atmosphere.
This is a preemptive strike by photovoltaic advocates (and manufacturers, I'd guess). The best place for wind power would be extreme Arctic Canada, near the frozen seas, where there are more likely to be intense winds 24-7 and little to worry about otherwise. "But wait -- if we put them up there, the icecaps will melt." Wait, you'll soon hear the other shoe drop.
Dag, all along big wind kept this news from breaking.
When will this madness end?
Wind turbines are passive. Please explain how they change weather. What energy are they converting to affect the weather?
Don’t get me wrong. I think they are a huge waste of money and resources.
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