>I simply can't get wind into my head as an important source of energy.
>Meddlying with the natural wind systems all over the planet will >cause such an horrible impact in the ecosystem that would make the >AGW scenarios look like the Garden of Eden. Well, we do it when we build cities, right? The annual energy budget of the world is about 5e17 Joules. A quick back of the envelope calculation reveals that the energy in the earth's wind is greater than 1e20 Joules. And, of course, that's constantly being replensihed as friction slows the wind down. Think of how quickly a hurricane can winds down when cut off from its primary source. So, the fraction of a percent of the total energy budget of the earth's wind that we would be changing by having wind farm would produce effects that would be hard to measure. If the average wind speed were to drop from, say, 5.678 to 5.677 m/s, do you think that the ecosystem would be changed much? Dan M. -------------------------------------------------------------------- mail2web - Check your email from the web at http://link.mail2web.com/mail2web _______________________________________________ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
