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Wind Farms Can Change the Weather
by Sarah Dowdey | October 15, 2010
Forget sonic headaches. The latest piece of wind-power news has to do with the weather. According to a recent study published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, utility-scale wind farms can change surrounding temperatures.
You Asked:
How can I build a windmill? — John, New York, N.Y.
Marshall Brain Answers…
Imagine that you have found a way to generate carbon-free electricity that has big advantages:
- It is relatively inexpensive
- It burns no fossil fuels
- It does not create toxic byproducts (like nuclear waste and coal waste lagoons)
- It is fairly quick to erect (especially compared to a nuclear power plant)
- In the right location, it can produce huge amounts of electricity
- It creates jobs
- It generates property taxes
- There are already tax credits in place
It sounds perfect, but there is one small problem…
The marine cousins of wind turbines don’t look all that different. They’re just underwater and instead of winds gusting across their blades and powering generators, tidal energy serves that purpose. The greater the flow of the body of water and the size of the rotor, the more energy the units supply. What’s more, it’s predictable if limited energy that ebbs and flows with the tides.
If you were to dive underwater (or check out this Discovery video or TreeHugger explanation) and observe Verdant Power’s turbines in action in New York City’s East River, you’d notice three blades spinning at about 32 revolutions per minute.
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