Offshore wind farms can protect coastal cities from hurricanes: scientists

[unhappycamper]

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/02/26/offshore-wind-farms-can-protect-coastal-cities-from-hurricanes-scientists/



Offshore wind farms can protect coastal cities from hurricanes: scientists
By Agence France-Presse
Wednesday, February 26, 2014 9:55 EST

Huge offshore wind farms can protect vulnerable coastal cities against devastating cyclones like Katrina and Sandy by tempering winds and ocean surges before they reach land, a study said Wednesday.

Had such installations existed at the time, Hurricane Katrina which ravaged New Orleans in 2005, and Sandy, which smashed the coastlines of New York and New Jersey in 2012, would have been reduced to strong but not devastating winds, it said.

“The little turbines can fight back the beast,” said Cristina Archer, an associate professor of Earth sciences at the University of Delaware.

The study, published in the journal Nature Climate Change, is the first to demonstrate that wind farms, deployed on a grand scale, can buffer violent hurricanes, the researchers said.

[madokie]

1. I was reading about this the other night at another link

I think its possible though

[kristopher]

2. Yes it was posted on Wednesday last week by LiberalEsto

http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1127&pid=65089


The authors prepublication copy of the paper is available here: https://www.stanford.edu/group/efmh/jacobson/Articles/I/WindHurricane/WindHurric.html

Abstract

Taming hurricanes with arrays of offshore wind turbines
Mark Z. Jacobson*, Cristina L. Archer and Willett Kempton

Hurricanes are causing increasing damage to many coastal regions worldwide1,2. Offshore wind turbines can provide sub- stantial clean electricity year-round, but can they also mitigate hurricane damage while avoiding damage to themselves? This study uses an advanced climate–weather computer model that correctly treats the energy extraction of wind turbines3,4 to examine this question. It finds that large turbine arrays (300+ GW installed capacity) may diminish peak near-surface hurricane wind speeds by 25–41 m s?1 (56–92 mph) and storm surge by 6–79%. Benefits occur whether turbine arrays are placed immediately upstream of a city or along an expanse of coastline. The reduction in wind speed due to large arrays increases the probability of survival of even present turbine designs. The net cost of turbine arrays (capital plus operation cost less cost reduction from electricity generation and from health, climate, and hurricane damage avoidance) is estimated to be less than today’s fossil fuel electricity generation net cost in these regions and less than the net cost of sea walls used solely to avoid storm surge damage.