4 ms·
it's good to think through, but first order intuition on this (for me) goes something like: 1. the wind gets it's power (directly and indirectly) from the sun
by clairity 9y ago
it's good to think through, but first order intuition on this (for me) goes something like:
1. the wind gets it's power (directly and indirectly) from the sun and we"re just too miniscule to affect that in any meaningful way.
2.on top of that, we return most of the acquired energy back to the atmosphere in the form of heat.
3. and we haven't built anything close to large and extensive enough in one place to create even micro-environmental effects.
we're just too miniscule to matter so it's a problem that might affect the planet in 1000 years when there are trillions(?) of people on earth but not worth worrying too much about now. by then, we might have become the brains of a superorganism or something and then it's time to worry =)
- ams6110 9y ago> we're just too miniscule to affect that in any meaningful way Though this same argument is dismissed by those who support the idea that we're changing the weather by CO2 emissions.
- function_seven 9y agoIn terms of wind energy, rotating mills are not going to have any measurable impact on wind energy or patterns. But with CFCs, we clearly aren’t minuscule. We saw a hole in the ozone layer that opened when we used them, and is closing now that we’ve stopped. For some things, we’re too minuscule, for others we’re not.
- flukus 9y ago> Though this same argument is dismissed by those who support the idea that we're changing the weather by CO2 emissions. Our direct effect is minuscule, it just so happens that our efforts magnify the not so minuscule effect the sun has.
- maxerickson 9y agoWho argues that human greenhouse gas emissions are minuscule?
- fasquoika 9y agoYou kinda took that out of context. "That" is "the amount of energy the sun radiates to the Earth's surface". That amount of energy 100% dwarfs anything the human race could ever hope to use
- graphitezepp 9y agoWell dwarfs what we need before we start colonizing the galaxy.
- fpoling 9y agoWind also gets some of its energy from Earth rotation.