Via the Wakey Wakey thread, I got wind of this photo (seen below the continue reading line) which is a real world effect of the model at left.
It seemed worthwhile to share for the sheer uniqueness of it. The turbulence caused by the turbines is a catalyst for cloud formation. See photo:
h/t to WUWT reader “Betapug”
UPDATE: In comments reader Mike G located the original photo as being from an offshore wind project by Aeolus called Horns Rev1. I’ve updated the caption and the photo as a result. Wikipedia has an entry with a map here
– Anthony
Discover more from Watts Up With That?
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
Don’t clouds trap heat way more effectively than CO2 ?
Stephen Salter, 2002:
“SPRAY TURBINES TO INCREASE RAIN BY ENHANCED
EVAPORATION FROM THE SEA”
http://www.mech.ed.ac.uk/research/wavepower/rain%20making/shs%20rain%20paper%20Feb.pdf
He wants to increase rain in arid regions by using a wind turbine and spray sea water into its wake.
Wow! What a picture!
Add this to the clouds made by ships and high altitude airplanes and you will find that the humanity is actually driving the earth into an ice age.
Contrail to popular belief…
So they are useful after all! They create clouds which cool us down and reduce HICC-UP. And, as a fortuitous by-product, generate meagre amounts of electricity.
Nice visualization of the turbulence created by these things. I fly regularly from an airport that has numerous turbines in the area and with the correct wind direction and descending below the top level I can feel the turbulence and it spoils my nice approach to the runway. It might even become dangerous for a pilot if he/she is not prepared for these effects.
Just got to love the way that the turbines are neatly arranged to fall in the wind shadow of the first row. Another day when “rated capacity” fails to materialise…..
Looks the same as the condensation cones from wing tip vortices from aircraft wings in fact exactly the same.
Wind turbines cause climate change ?? As if ….. !!!!!
Not that they’re a blight on the landscape or anything, but it’s OK though. If the albedo effects plunge us prematurely into the next ice age, I’m sure we can count on our elected politicians to help us muddle through it.
Do these reflect sunlight back, or intercept the outgoing?
So, – now more funding is really needed as this shows that more research is needed to establish “once and for all” whether clouds have negative or positive effects on Climate Change (CC). My plea to scientists is: “please form an orderly queue!”
I think that’s not a real photograph, rather a photo-shopped image.
Semi-relevant:
Here’s a NASA propaganda film from 1980 pushing the benefits of wind power. NASA started working on wind in 1973.
http://www.archive.org/details/those_magnificent_wind_machines
A few points:
1. NASA determined at that time that two blades were ideal, not three or more. Wonder why they changed to three?
2. It appears that the gov’t pushed the spread of cable TV across America to clear the way for wind power, because the blades created near-total interference with broadcast TV.
3. “We’ve found that the diesel generators used for backup have to be run at part-throttle when the wind turbine is producing, so we haven’t saved as much fuel as we thought.” Hmm. Seems that they still haven’t solved this one.
3. “The cost should drop to 5 cents per KWH.” That would be 13 cents after inflation today.
I can’t find a conclusive figure for real cost of wind power online, but a couple sources indicate that tax breaks amount to 23 cents, and the actual cost of operation and maintenance (not counting capital cost or the backup power) is 27 cents.
http://www.wind-watch.org/documents/true-cost-of-electricity-from-wind-is-always-underestimated-and-its-value-is-always-overestimated/
http://social.windenergyupdate.com/pr/new-report-explores-true-cost-wind-turbine-operations-maintenance
Wow is that photo real? Anyone know why the cloud trails are wider to the right? is it an optical illusion or something to do with wind direction? Inquiring minds pls
Wow, maybe Martha’s Vineyard is about to undergo a ‘sea change’ in its cloud patterns?
I have yet to get a handle on how a driven blade generates turbulence, my experience having been entirely on driving blades. All the turbines above are in the wake of the front row, probably reducing output and definitely putting more stress on the hubs and those long blades.
Neat, long rows may look tidy, but when the wind is just right, you lose efficiency. A pair of staggered placement grids would have been better, angled the way halftone screens are angled in color printing.
Interesting. So what albedo effect do the low clouds (assuming they are low clouds) have? Do they raise temps or lower them?
Very interesting photo. Where was it taken?
Wow. It also clearly shows that most of the windmills are in the turbulent wake of the front ones, so their already dismal efficiency is even worse.
Heh, I’ve been saying for years that the energy from a windmill is less than the energy taken out of the atmosphere, energy that is no longer available for those downwind. Efficiency losses mandate that the cure for such a tort is not available.
===================
That is an amazing photo. I have observed the same sort of effect trailing behind a fast boat with a complex mast like a Destroyer. Albeit to a much lesser degree.
And speaking of fresh snow, we awoke to an inch or so this morning. Latest accumulation I have ever seen.
Commentators on the previous “Wakey-wakey” thread seemed to have missed the obvious that this turbulence equates to noise. Wind turbines would be noisy even if the incoming airstream was laminar and all at the same velocity. Add in wind shear when velocity at the top of the blades is greater than at the bottom of the sweep and inflow turbulence either from natural changes in wind speed and direction or fixed structures such as trees, hills and buildings or other upwind turbines then the noise becomes much worse with a thumping quality that travels long distances and ruins sleep.
The wakey wakey tag is thus highly appropriate as that is what they do, wreck sleep patterns. As some other commentators have pointed out, much of this work was done by NASA in the 1980s and is conveniently ignored by today’s wind industry.
Wind turbines generate three things, subsidies, enriching the developers and pushing the poor into fuel poverty, noise, ruining the sleep and health of those unfortunate enough to live nearby and electricity, in small varying quantities that gives the grid operator endless headaches.
I share the concerns about what will happen to these giant symbols to political gullibility when the penny finally drops and the subsidies are axed. The developers will simply walk away, leaving them to desecrate our skylines for decades to come.
That is is clear evidence of anthropogenic warming by increasing the climate greenhouse effect by “trapping” long wave radiation.
OR
That is clear evidence of anthropogenic cooling by increasing earth’s albedo.
Calling climate modelers and experimentalists to rescue us from our plight!
Beautiful picture, but I would not like to live ‘down wind’ of these monstrosities. You would never see the sun.
OK I don’t like windmills which are for me, expensive 17th century technology in a new form.
Yeah! And they cause rotation of air. Fueling tornados! Sorry, couldn’t resist after yesterday tornado outbreak.
It wouldn’t surprise me at all if some of today’s climate scientists would suggest such connections given current standard in the climatic research community.