It shows that we need to think carefully about the unintended environmental consequences of any large-scale energy development,including green technologies.
John Dabiri
New research finds that wind farms actually warm up the surface of the land underneath them during the night, a phenomena that could put a damper on efforts to expand wind energy as a green energy solution.
Zhou and his colleagues found that turbulence behind the wind turbine blades stirs up a layer of cooler air that usually settles on the ground at night, and mixes in warm air that is on top.
That layering effect is usually reversed during the daytime, with warm air on the surface and cooler air higher up."The year-to-year land surface temperature over wind farms shows a persistent upward trend from 2003 to 2011, consistent with the increasing number of operational wind turbines with time," Zhou said.
West Texas is a dry area that uses irrigation to grow wheat, cotton and other crops, as well as raise cattle. But increased warming can play havoc with plant growth, as well as change local rainfall patterns
You can’t always get what you want
Mick Jagger, Rolling Stones
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This is not new news.
ReplyDeleteLook at any orchard in Eastern Washington - or pretty much anywhere else - and you'll see windmills that are POWERED during certains frosty nights to move the air and keep fruit on the trees from freezing.