Wind turbines on the North Sea generate clouds in their wake. It is an open question some researchers are investigating, if we build significant numbers of these structures, particularly inland, can their drag on the atmosphere impact weather patterns? Nothing's free, huh?
Amazing photo. Shows how delicate the atmosphere really is.
ReplyDeleteNothing is free but some methods of electricity generation might be less expensive than others.I wonder how the drag from these wind farms compare to a large metropolitian city or a forest. Might be an interesting project to try and develop some sort of estimates.
ReplyDeleteYou have to consider the area of turbines required is probably on the order of doubling current amount of are of urban North America. My understanding is "back of the envelope" calculations suggest it is possible. I think there has been some modeling work published. Too bad we can't get a few on the Farm to measure their affects.
ReplyDeleteInteresting. Lots of cool atmo-biosphere questions as well when you think of micro-scale effects of increased turbulence in boundary.
ReplyDelete