October 10, 2018

The climate prophets finally get some modelling right -- but it says the opposite of what Warmists want!

Two Harvard scientists have just done the most careful modelling yet of what effects wind turbines have.  They find that, for the next century, wind turbines will INCREASE warming rather than decrease it.

And here's the really exceptional bit:  Their models agree with observations -- an unprecedented event in global warming literature. It means that you can make reasonably accurate predictions from their models -- unlike the chaff that comes from other modelling.

So what are Warmists saying about the study?  You guessed it: Warmists of course hate the conclusions so say the modelling is no good.  It would be interesting to see them do better.

Highlights and abstract below:

Climatic Impacts of Wind Power

Lee M.Miller & David W.Keith

Highlights

* Wind power reduces emissions while causing climatic impacts such as warmer temperatures
* Warming effect strongest at night when temperatures increase with height
* Nighttime warming effect observed at 28 operational US wind farms
* Wind's warming can exceed avoided warming from reduced emissions for a century

Summary

We find that generating today's US electricity demand (0.5 TW e) with wind power would warm Continental US surface temperatures by 0.24°C. Warming arises, in part, from turbines redistributing heat by mixing the boundary layer. Modeled diurnal and seasonal temperature differences are roughly consistent with recent observations of warming at wind farms, reflecting a coherent mechanistic understanding for how wind turbines alter climate. The warming effect is: small compared with projections of 21st century warming, approximately equivalent to the reduced warming achieved by decarbonizing global electricity generation, and large compared with the reduced warming achieved by decarbonizing US electricity with wind. For the same generation rate, the climatic impacts from solar photovoltaic systems are about ten times smaller than wind systems. Wind's overall environmental impacts are surely less than fossil energy. Yet, as the energy system is decarbonized, decisions between wind and solar should be informed by estimates of their climate impacts.

SOURCE





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