Wind farms are warming climate

Environmentalists support Vermont’s renewable energy mandates to check global warming. The Obama administration is also throwing billions to advance a green agenda to save our planet. Both will have negligible results but will dramatically increase the cost of electricity.

Renewable advocates say that wind power complements solar power because wind often blows strongly at night while solar is only available during daylight hours. But, according to SUNY professor Liming Zhou, the turbulence of wind power stirs the cooler air that usually settles on the ground at night and mixes it with warm air from above. Zhou’s research confirms wind farms contribute to warming by heating up the land underneath them during the night. He showed a direct correlation between night-time temperature increases and the placement of the wind farms.

Professor Zhou also thinks pushing wind power could have a noticeable impact on local to regional meteorology in agricultural areas because this warming effect can adversely hinder crop growth and even have an effect on rain patterns.

The solution proposed by John Dabin, who’s an expert on wind power design, is for smaller turbines. They can avoid this problem, but the trade-off is wind speed decreases as you move closer to the ground so these turbines will make less power.

There’s no scientific consensus to support past global warming hype, but now professor Zhou has offered the theory that wind farms are warming the earth and contributing to global warming. There’s no good reason for wind power. It’s just another government policy supported by taxpayers’ subsidy.

Frank Mazur

South Burlington