There are various claims to wind turbine farms - they allegedly spoil the species and kill birds. But these are only minor annoyances compared to what will happen if wind energy meets the hopes of its supporters: to replace fossil energy sources, which should supposedly slow down global warming.
It turns out that the slowdown in climate warming when using wind energy is not obvious. A recent study found that switching to wind power could in fact exacerbate climate change towards warming.
Researchers in the Department of Engineering and Applied Sciences at Harvard University have found that if you reduce the share of energy generated by burning fossil fuels in the United States and replace it with wind energy, then so many wind turbines will impede the circulation of air that cool the Earth.
In a study published in Joule, the models created by scientists showed that supplying the United States with energy from wind alone would raise the average temperature of the planet by a quarter of a degree Celsius over a hundred years, while stopping the burning of hydrocarbons would lower the temperature by only a tenth of a degree in the same time. … This means that wind turbines will reduce the release of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, but they will more than offset the resulting cooling of the planet due to their own effects that increase the temperature.
"The biggest increase in temperature per unit of energy generated occurs in the early stages of wind power adoption," said Harvard study co-author Lee Miller. As wind turbines were added to the computer model created by scientists, the temperature rise per wind turbine dropped, showing that if we decided to switch to wind energy, then this can be done in full.
At the same time, if instead of the wind we turn to the energy of the Sun, the heating of the planet will be only one tenth of the "wind" approach. This means that if we are not going to use wind farms, we certainly need to switch to renewable energy sources.
It should be noted that this is not the first assumption about the influence of wind turbines on the increase in the temperature of our planet. But before you demolish a nearby windmill, there are a few things to consider. First, Harvard scientists agree that, in the long run, wind power is much cleaner and healthier for the planet than that derived from fossil fuels. The models involved in this study relate more to the impact of wind generation on our immediate future - for example, ten years - before we can really experience the long-term benefits of clean energy.
In addition, a scientist not involved in the study told MIT Technology Review that the models used in the study may have exaggerated the warming effect of wind turbine farms. Apparently, a specific model showing that extracting wind energy causes the planet to warm up is not the best for estimating air circulation. It is possible that a real wind turbine does not have the same effect as the emulator suggests, and the wind is still able to supply us with energy - and cool at the same time.
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The dynamics of the model used is very complex and does not boil down to "stopping everything" at the location of the wind turbine. To determine the extent to which a single wind turbine can affect air movement, scientists viewed wind turbines as moving areas that slow down any air flow in their path. In an interview, Miller said that different wind turbine parts were assigned different wind speed changes depending on the height.
Also, the study did not address the impact of mining operations to extract fossil fuels. Although the materials from which the wind turbine is made do not come out of nothing, it is obvious that the extraction of oil and coal causes enormous environmental damage. Therefore, although this new simulation of air movement involves the heating of the planet due to the transition to the utilization of wind energy, there is still a difference between the transition to something that does not give immediate benefits (but profitable in the future), and the continuation of activities that destroy ecosystems, poisoning water, and emitting greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.
This is just one study and, in general, wind energy is paying off.
Vadim Tarabarko