Weather Banter - Sucking energy out of the atmosphere ...

Bert Hyman wrote:
As we start sucking gigawatts of energy out of the atmosphere by
erecting thousands of windmills, what happens to the weather?

I have no idea what the magnitude of the numbers involved here might be,
so the whole thing may be of no more significance than raising a flag.

To start with, you won't get anything from anything that isn't there so
if it stops blowing the effect stops causing it to stop blowing.

Then there is the tree effect.

If you have ever noticed a naturalised coppice or wood, the tops of the
trees blend into an aerofoil shape that directs the wind into an
approach that causes least damage. No doubt including to the best
effective use of breezes too as trees need to sway to work their pumps.

Standing in the middle of a wood on a windy day you might only hear the
wind -maybe not even, you won't feel any.

Windmills are as old as industry. They have been employed since
beforethe dark ages all alomng western Europe to control water levels
in marshy land. And to mill grain of course. They may not have been
very efficient but they were effective wind blocks.

Windmills are inefficient as they can not be programmed to run on
demand. And they cut out when the wind is too strong for the
generators. That's always been the problem with natural power.

Something more regular would be the use of tidal races. Very expensive
though.