27.- CAN WIND FARMS CAUSE CLIMATE CHANGES?

CAN WIND FARMS CAUSE CLIMATE CHANGES?

Wind farms can cause climate change, according to new research, that shows for the first time the new technology is already pushing up temperatures.

Usually at night the air closer to the ground becomes colder when the sun goes down and the earth cools. But on huge wind farms the motion of the turbines mixes the air higher in the atmosphere that is warmer, pushing up the overall temperature.

This could have long term effects on wildlife living in the immediate areas of larger wind farms.

It could also affect regional weather patterns as warmer areas affect the formation of cloud and even wind speeds.

However Prof Zhou pointed out the most extreme changes were just at night and the overall changes may be smaller.

Also, it is much smaller than the estimated change caused by other factors such as man made global warming.

The study read: "The debates regard the possible impacts of wind farms on regional to global scale weather and climate, that they can significantly affect local scale meteorology."

Large windfarms can increase local night time temperatures by fanning warmer air onto the ground, new research has revealed.