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> I’m curious why you suspect there’s any effect. What am I supposed to say? > CO2 absolutely has everything to do with this In fact, it's not. The climate i

> I’m curious why you suspect there’s any effect. What am I supposed to say? > CO2 absolutely has everything to do with this In fact, it's not. The climate is not comprised entirely of CO2. You're so wrapped up in the unrelated issue of CO2 that you're not addressing the actual question. My question is "can wind turbines provoke climate change?" It's not "how is wind better than coal?" Why not ask "how do wind turbines reduce atmospheric H2O?" It's ridiculous. This is a reasonable thing to consider. If there is no material effect, or if there is a mitigation, then we're golden. But I'm hearing "you're so dumb for even thinking that, and have you even seen them from space, and what about coal?" Well fuck me for asking then. > Does the introduction of turbines have any chance of compensating for the number of trees we’re removed from exposure to surface winds? Let's ask that question. I don't know why we should conflate those two things, but yeah, what has deforestation done to the climate?

dahart 3y ago
Please relax, you seem really defensive. We can have a friendly discussion. Your question is reasonable to ask, I’m just asking you (like the other commenter did) to consider the scale of your question, and to do some napkin-arithmetic estimates of the maximum possible magnitude of effect that turbines might have on the earth’s air, in order to answer the question you asked. There might be some effect. I’ll be surprised if it’s large, but it wouldn’t be the first time I was surprised. I’m also asking you to make some comparisons and put it in context. It doesn’t make sense to ask about wind turbine air turbulence causing climate change without asking the same question about cities and all the existing power plants and all man-made and plant structures that obstruct air. It’s not possible to answer your question about turbines and climate without talking about CO2, so if you refuse to discuss CO2, then... CO2 is the known cause of current climate change. I didn’t ask if wind is better than coal (answer:yes). The pre-supposed answer to your question by many people is that use of turbines will cause positive changes to the climate due to their ability to reduce CO2. Will that be offset by warming caused by turbulence? Personally I doubt it, but maybe. Deforestation is, as I understand it, contributing to warming, among other environmental negatives. It also removes turbulence causing obstacles from the boundary layer of air at the same time that turbines are adding some. Why wouldn’t you worry about tree turbulence, if you’re going to worry about wind turbine turbulence?

dahart 3y ago

Please relax, you seem really defensive. We can have a friendly discussion. Your question is reasonable to ask, I’m just asking you (like the other commenter did) to consider the scale of your question, and to do some napkin-arithmetic estimates of the maximum possible magnitude of effect that turbines might have on the earth’s air, in order to answer the question you asked. There might be some effect. I’ll be surprised if it’s large, but it wouldn’t be the first time I was surprised. I’m also asking you to make some comparisons and put it in context. It doesn’t make sense to ask about wind turbine air turbulence causing climate change without asking the same question about cities and all the existing power plants and all man-made and plant structures that obstruct air. It’s not possible to answer your question about turbines and climate without talking about CO2, so if you refuse to discuss CO2, then... CO2 is the known cause of current climate change. I didn’t ask if wind is better than coal (answer:yes). The pre-supposed answer to your question by many people is that use of turbines will cause positive changes to the climate due to their ability to reduce CO2. Will that be offset by warming caused by turbulence? Personally I doubt it, but maybe. Deforestation is, as I understand it, contributing to warming, among other environmental negatives. It also removes turbulence causing obstacles from the boundary layer of air at the same time that turbines are adding some. Why wouldn’t you worry about tree turbulence, if you’re going to worry about wind turbine turbulence?