ralphpnj wrote: > I also am concerned about what will happen when there are so many solar > panels and wind turbines in place that they begin to have an impact on > the weather patterns. What I mean is that as the wind blows through a > wind turbine farm a portion of the wind energy is converted to > electricity and the wind that exits the wind farm now has less power in > it which could, in turn, impact the overall wind patterns. Similar to > what happens to the flow of water in a river on the downstream side of > dam, i.e. the water downstream of the dam has much less energy and > therefore a weaker stream or flow than the water upstream of the dam. > > With enough solar panels in place I would imagine that the amount of > residual heat being released into the air would be deceased and that > this in turn would have some type of impact on the environment. So it > bears repeating: there is no free lunch.
I wouldn't think that wind turbines would have a significant impact on weather patterns as a function of slowing down the wind. It would take truly vast arrays of turbines to do this. I tried some cursory searches and couldn't find anything on the topic, although there is lots of discussion on other impacts, e.g. land use, effects on birds and bats, health impacts on people, etc. The albedo of solar panels is a different matter. The Superfreakenomics people have suggested that the low albedo of solar panels results in more heat energy being trapped with a potential global warming impact. The analysis of this claim that I've seen suggests it's not true, see for example http://www.quora.com/Do-solar-panels-make-global-warming-worse-by-storing-heat. LMS on a dedicated music server (FitPC3) Transporter (Ethernet) - main music listening, Onkyo receiver, Paradigm speakers Duet (WiFi) - home theater 5.1, Sony receiver, Energy speakers Boom 1 (WiFi) - work-space Boom 2 (WiFi) - various (deck, garage, etc.) Radio (WiFi) - home office Touch x 2 - awaiting deployment UE Radio - awaiting deployment Control - 2 Controllers (main listening, home theater, all others), Squeeze Remote (on Surface Pro 2), SqueezeControl (on Android mobile) ------------------------------------------------------------------------ RonM's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=17029 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=104207 _______________________________________________ audiophiles mailing list [email protected] http://lists.slimdevices.com/mailman/listinfo/audiophiles
