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May be stupid question: I have always wondered if we build enough windmills will it affect the global windpatterns? What will happen to the place where all thi
by tshanmu 7y ago
May be stupid question: I have always wondered if we build enough windmills will it affect the global windpatterns?
What will happen to the place where all this wind energy goes if we extract it before there? Could it affect rainfall in directly unconnected places? The butterfly effect?
- remarkEon 7y agoI've always wondered if it would affect bird migrations.
- Robotbeat 7y agoIt can, but the change can be a good thing. For instance, enough off-shore wind can reduce the intensity of hurricanes (in places like New Orleans). Farmers plant trees for wind-breaks in the Great Plains to reduce erosion of the soil. Wind turbines can serve the same purpose.
- hutzlibu 7y agoButterfly effect means, small effects CAN induce big ones. But not necessary in a significant lasting climatechanging way. Windmills do not change much different, than I would say, a city with scyscrapers does. So it is changing, but to affect the global jetstreams, we probably would have to build really big windmills, directly exploiting those winds on a big scale ... So sci-fiction we are talking about, not at all, what we have now...
- Bjartr 7y agoBuilding towns, cities, roads, farms, and other comparatively large surface area artificial structures impact windflow, solar absorptance/reflectance, rainfall absorption/runoff, thermal conduction/convection, and others I'm sure. All of which can have an impact on local and in turn regional and then global climates and winds (although not usually in a way we can trace all the way through). It's worth understanding the impact of all of these in addition to what you ask as well.