Renewable energy: climate crisis 'may have triggered faster wind speeds'
Source: The Guardian
Renewable energy: climate crisis 'may have triggered faster wind speeds'
Windfarms could be able to generate more energy due to phenomenon, says report
Jillian Ambrose
Mon 18 Nov 2019 19.23 GMT
Last modified on Mon 18 Nov 2019 21.00 GMT
The global climate crisis could lead to more renewable electricity being generated by spurring faster wind speeds for the world’s growing number of windfarms, according to research.
Scientists have discovered that the world’s shifting ocean circulation patterns may have triggered a rapid increase in wind speeds over the last 10 years.
The international research team analysed data from 9,000 international weather stations since the late 1970s and found that wind speeds had unexpectedly increased after a three-decade slowdown.
Dr Zhenzhong Zeng, a professor at Princeton University and the lead author of the report, said the research team was surprised by the findings after setting out to study the slowdown in global wind speeds.
The faster than expected wind speeds could help increase the amount of renewable electricity generated by windfarms by more than a third to 3.3m kilowatt hours (kWh) by 2024.
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Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/nov/18/climate-crisis-striking-a-blow-for-windfarms-new-research-suggests
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A reversal in global terrestrial stilling and its implications for wind energy production (Nature Climate Change)
