Wind power needed sooner, researcher says

A climate researcher at the University of Texas at Austin says as wind speeds decrease with rising temperatures, it will mean less power bang for the wind turbine buck, a release from the American Institute of Physics reports.

The prevailing winds in the atmosphere are maintained by a temperature gradient that decreases toward the poles, researcher Diandong Ren says.

"For example, Wichita, Kan., is cooler, in general, than Austin, Texas. The stronger the temperature contrast, the stronger the wind."

But as the climate changes and global temperatures rise, the temperature contrast between the lower latitudes and the poles decreases slightly, because polar regions tend to warm up faster.

As that temperature contrast becomes weaker, so do the winds, Ren says.
Ren calculates a 4- to 7-degree Fahrenheit increase in temperatures in Earth's mid to high-latitudes would result in a 4-12 percent decrease in wind speeds in certain high northern latitudes.

With "everything else being the same, we need to invest in more wind turbines to gain the same amount of energy," Ren says.

"Wind energy will still be plentiful and wind energy still profitable, but we need to tap the energy source earlier" -- before there is less to available, he says.

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