Could Offshore Wind Farms Make Hurricanes Less Destructive?

[mota bhai 2,675]

Hurricane Sandy was Mark Jacobson’s light bulb moment. A professor of civil and environmental engineering at Stanford University, he was simultaneously running three separate experiments—one that that utilized complex computer models to simulate hurricanes, another testing the impact wind turbines have on the atmosphere, and a third examining the energy infrastructure of New York—when the storm hit.

“It was almost the perfect coincidence of events,” says Jacobson. “So the question arose, if you have a lot of offshore wind off New York, would the hurricane destroy the turbines?”

So he plugged in “tens of thousands” of wind turbines into his models, placing them within 100 kilometers off the coast in water depths ranging from 30 to 200 meters. Then he ran simulations for three different hurricanes: Katrina, Isaac, and Sandy. Not only were the turbines undamaged by the conditions, they also disrupted peak winds by up to 92 percent and storm surge by up to 79 percent. In the case of Katrina, 78,000 wind turbines decreased wind speeds by 80 to 98 miles per hour.

“When you put wind turbines in, they slow the wind of the hurricane, which decreases the wave heights and the movement of air to the center of the hurricane,” he says. “This increases the central pressure which makes the hurricane dissipate faster.”

Jacobson’s findings, recently published in the journal Nature Climate Change, seem to offer an almost too-good-to-be-true solution to a precarious situation. According to the NOAA, an estimated 50 million residents have moved to hurricane-prone coastal communities over the past twenty-five years.

...

Jacobson hypothesizes that massive offshore wind farms could help alleviate the damage inflicted by storms, as well as become a source of clean energy.

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Massive seawalls have also been proposed as a way to protect coastal cities, costing between $10 billion to $40 billion to install. Wind turbines in the thousands would cost more to implement (a project for 130 wind turbines off the coast of Cape Cod is estimated to cost $2.5 billion) but Jacobson doesn’t see that as a reason to count them out. While seawalls would reduce wind speed and storm surge, they can’t generate year-round electricity.

http://www.newrepublic.com/article/116793/offshore-wind-farms-east-coast-could-reduce-hurricane-damage

[Karee 4,190]

I heard an equally stupid proposal once:

1,000 boats to push flood waters October 11

BANGKOK: -- On October 11, a fleet of some 1,000 boats would help push water from the Chao Phraya River into the sea fast, Science and Technology Minister Plodprasop Suraswadi said Saturday.

At the boat project launch held at Nonthaburi's Pakkred Pier with 40 boats attending, Plodprasop said that this voluntarybase project would help drain water three times faster, from two knots to six knots, and prevent floodwater from pouring into Bangkok City.

He said the 1,000boat fleet would push water down to the sea on October 11, as to help lower flood in the Chao Phraya Riverside provinces such as Sing Buri, Angthong and Ayutthaya.


-- The Nation 2011-10-08

[Peikko 1,575]

Could Offshore Wind Farms Make Hurricanes Less Destructive?

I don't know, could they?

[spookyturtle 9,466]

No. The hurricane would wreck the wind farm and all that junk would wash ashore and cause extra damage. If I was going to build a wind farm, I'd build it in DC, lots of hot air and blowhards there.

[Harpa Timsah 13,258]

Did no one read the article? It says it would work, and it says they would not be destroyed by the wind. Man...

[spookyturtle 9,466]

Did no one read the article? It says it would work, and it says they would not be destroyed by the wind. Man...

And they said the Titanic was unsinkable too.

[I AM NOT THAT GUY 5,715]

WIndmills will be as effective in reducing the effects of hurricanes as pedestrians in crosswalks are at reducing drunk driving.

[I AM NOT THAT GUY 5,715]

I wonder if Jacobson used similar computer models as the ones that were predicting the runaway global warming would occur in the current decade.

Edited March 1, 2014 by The Postmaster

[Karee 4,190]

WIndmills will be as effective in reducing the effects of hurricanes as pedestrians in crosswalks are at reducing drunk driving.

[lostinblue 1,989]

Did no one read the article? It says it would work, and it says they would not be destroyed by the wind. Man...

I can sell you some beach front property in Arizona. Just another nut that saw all the billions of dollars flowing into the climate change fraud and wants his billions also.

[Pooky 3,791]

Could 78,000 wind turbines slow the Earth' rotation?

They might also solve the runaway thieving seagull population.