Originally posted by TexasConspiracyNut
It is not possible for wind farms to effect weather paterns IMO. I'm not a weatherman so keep that in mind.

If you had 2,500 windmills on a hill how would that cause weather to be different at a certain spot? The wind blowing through the windmills is only surface wind. There is plenty more wind available above the windmills all the way up several miles to make up for the disturbances caused by the windmills at the earths surface. The jet streams, the wind in all the high and low pressure areas all over the world, surface temp, humitidy, and pressure all over the planet mostly the water, the spin of the earth, these thing effect the weather 100 billion times more than a few thousand windmills on a hill. This makes no since to me.

In general terms:

Radiated energy from the earth heats the air.
Hot air rises.
Rising air creates an area of low pressure.

Wind travelling X mph travels some distance then rises.
Decrease the mph the air is travelling (due to a wind farm) and the distance it travels before it rises also decreases.

Now, instead of a low pressure area x miles away it is x - y miles away.

Mind you, "y" may be some small amount that does not have an appreciable effect. However, just like the river analogy, it is a matter of scale. Take an inch here and an inch there, and eventually you have a mile.

But you are forgeting the massive amounts of energy that exist in our atmosphere and that new energy from the sun, evaporation, and other causes are constantly being introduced.

The wind farms take such a small amount of energy that it's totally ineffectual. Think about it, how would turning a few thousand turbines around the world effect a system that contains an amount of energy that is so far beyond what the entire planet needs for electricity that it's laughable.

It takes an entire mountain range to create a rain shaddow, that's trillions of tons of rock, reaching thousands of feet into the air over hundreds of miles to create one rain shaddow. How could a few hundred turbines at most 50 meters of the ground with lightweight blades that take vurturally no energy to spin (I can spin one with my own body strength) could create something that takes an entire mountain range to do in nature?

It's just not logical.

If you want to see what power systems are effecting the air, look to coal and oil! Global warming is real and not just some political ploy in India. Lets work on the real problems before going after renewable clean energy.

May Peace Travel With You
~Astral

Originally posted by The Astral City
But you are forgeting the massive amounts of energy that exist in our atmosphere and that new energy from the sun, evaporation, and other causes are constantly being introduced.

I forgot nothing of the sort, I was mearly pointing out that a minute change could become significant given scale. (Pebble tossed in the river vs a million pebbles tossed in a river)

If you want to see what power systems are effecting the air, look to coal and oil! Global warming is real and not just some political ploy in India. Lets work on the real problems before going after renewable clean energy.

As I said in a prior post, it is likey that the buildings those coal and oil power systems are in would create a change in localized wind patterns on par with those that may be caused by wind farms. Add to that the effect pollution has, and it is rather clear which is more harmful.

Sorry but this i had to reply to windfarms effecting the weather patterns lol what a load of C*** if they stop putting them up cause of that then they better rethink a fair few things!
Ie sky scrapers imagine what the empire state building is doing to Africa (lol) or the whole city of new york cant say there aint alot of energy lost there. Ow lots not forget bridges they are effect all river based wind current drastic consequences for the beaches and coastal communities there...........

People should think before even writing these stupid articles or anything with so much C*** in it that their basically saying anything over x amount of meters is effecting the weather. I say its time to go back to our roots and live in the caves again!

We should probably look into stopping Continental drift as well. This
whole plate tektonic thing is forming mountains, volcanoes etc..Those are affecting wind patterns.



Also
I'm cutting down all my trees, as they are affecting wind patterns.

I think TJ11240 hit the nail on the head:

Air flows from high pressure to low pressure. The pressure differences are caused by unequal heating of the earth's surface. Weather patters occur when mountains, forests and oceans impact the direction, temperature, and humidity of air.

Wind is a result of the corrective nature of....nature, and windmills only offer a minute amount of resistance to the mix. Sure some wind speed will be curbed a little, but the sun will keep shining and the wind will continue until the pressure is more balanced. It really don't think its something to worry about.

OMG is all I can say. This doesn't even qualify as science. I wonder which blocks more wind. A tree or a windmill. And over the entire area of a surface system how much of the space does a windmill blade take up? .0000000000001%? lol. If that. These tiny specs on the horizon aren't going to shift a weather pattern. They aren't going to cause drought or global warming or anything else that people might think of. And if a bird flies into one and gets whacked then all I can say is "can someone pass me the corn and mashed potatoes to go with it?" :-)

how do wind farms affect weather patterns anyways?

Well, with all of the trees that have been cut down in the world, I would think that the windmills are more or less stabilizing the wind conditions.
After all, trees basically do the same jobs as windmills in slowing down the everygy from the wind itself.

[edit on 17-6-2004 by JCMinJapan]

That comparision with the stones in the river would be only valid if there were huge stacks with windmills every 20ft, up to 80000ft high, across a whole landmass (which is of course impossible).... And yet it wouldn't be valid because the sea isn't included.

Ever seen LA on a clear day ? I've heard the old saying " if a flutterby beats it wings in China....." and I do beleive that "Everything Affects Everything" so I do think there may be a bit of truth in your assumption .

However , I think when you take into account the massive distance that the atmosphere covers , that this would be a pebble in the stream you were speaking of .

I'm sorry but this is just nonsense. The idea that wind farms are going to do anything other than swat some birds is just laughable. I doubt that the effect could even be measured, you can not compare them to buildings because the only stationary part is the main support. This is not science.

LOL This is a great thread. for laughs.

tall buildings also block the wind. Let's tear them all down!!!

We should all give our kids growth stunting drugs now while they're still short! Dam tall people are causing all this rain down here lately. Those ten gallon hats should be outlawed too! I say ban the rodeo!

Yep, and the cows are too tall, too. I say we cut their legs off, and we can all subsist off of ground beef.

Ouizel,

"ground beef"

Although I Have "herd" that cows produce a form of wind on their own.
Maybe this cancels ittself out?

BuTT it's in the form of Methane! A greenhouse gas.
What a dilemma!

Well, while you might have "herd" correctly, this is "udderly" false.

While we could "milk" that type of wind for all that it was worth, it probably wouldn't be worth a "fart in the wind".

Sorry.

Raphael_UO,

Sorry about all the Bad Puns and stuff. I'm a sucker for
Bad puns!

Sure they do..Take Cow wind seriously. There is a lot of it.

I like the idea of somehow capturing the methane.
And using it as an energy source..

But see, it still conjurs up the vision of a cow wearing balloon pants..
To Be "milked" for Methane at just the right time...And that makes me

Originally posted by spacedoubt
Raphael_UO,

Sorry about all the Bad Puns and stuff. I'm a sucker for
Bad puns!

Sure they do..Take Cow wind seriously. There is a lot of it.

I like the idea of somehow capturing the methane.
And using it as an energy source..

But see, it still conjurs up the vision of a cow wearing balloon pants..
To Be "milked" for Methane at just the right time...And that makes me

I take no offense, mearly providing information lest someone thinks "Dairy Waste Management" was just a load of manure.