I suspect that large arrays of wind farms would have an effect similar to forests. We've chopped down a lot of forests over tha last few hundred years, so this doesn't worry me.
Tidal power would slow the earth's rotation a little faster than it is slowing anyway from friction - probably not a big deal. Removing a significant fraction of energy from say the Gulf Stream strikes me as asking for trouble. Regarding jet streams, I would be worried if it were possible. They wiggle around so much that I can't imagine any practical method of tapping their energy. On Sun, 11 Sep 2005, TarynToo wrote: > Hi JJJN, > > On Sep 10, 2005, at 9:47 PM, JJJN wrote: > > > ... > > > > Ok one last question about wind farms. I told someone that wind farms > > have the _potential_ of changing the weather if there is enough energy > > extracted. I was laughed at and got that "look" _Now I did say > > potentia_l. The laws of thermodynamics say so. So can any one share > > some more insight to this potential possibility?? > > > > > This has been on my mind too, but I've not collected enough information > to make an informed guess. > > The same question applies to tidal power and current power There have > been proposals to anchor huge slow speed propellors in the gulf stream, > to generate electric power. This seems (to me) to have the potential to > extract enough energy to slow the stream. Even a fractional change in > the energy delivered to the north atlantic might have extreme > consequences for the ecosystem as well as weather. > > So anyone have informed guesses, or hard data, on the possible effects > of pulling significant power out of tides, big water currents, jet > streams, and ground level winds? > > Taryn > http://ornae.com/ _______________________________________________ Biofuel mailing list Biofuel@sustainablelists.org http://sustainablelists.org/mailman/listinfo/biofuel_sustainablelists.org Biofuel at Journey to Forever: http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html Search the combined Biofuel and Biofuels-biz list archives (50,000 messages): http://www.mail-archive.com/biofuel@sustainablelists.org/
