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Can you take the wind out of someone's sails?

5/11/2015

7 Comments

 
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The meaning of take the wind out of my sails is to make someone feel less confident or less determined to do something. But could this be literally true?

Apparently, UK wind farm bosses have objected to a rival wind turbine operation built next door in case it steals their wind.

This reminds me of the worry back in the seventies. If too many people used solar power, there would be none left.

The owners of a wind farm in Cumbria have objected to rivals building three 360ft tall turbines nearby. They claim the plans could take the wind out of their sails, hampering electricity output.

Is this the first time wind theft has been cited as a reason not to build a new turbine farm? In the letter from Broadview Energy Ltd, the agent said, "There has been no attempt to measure or predict whether there would be any reduction in energy production... even though a reduction in output is virtually guaranteed." The letter goes on to state the new wind farm "will result" in lower energy production at both sites, while it also raises fears over the cumulative noise impact on the area.

The recently revealed number of wind turbines in Scotland has doubled over the past year, with nearly 5,000 across the country. Figures show 4,519 turbines have been approved, built or are under construction, despite green energy targets already being met.

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Okay, I'm not a scientist. But I like to work these things out. Imagine a strong wind blowing toward a forest. The trees direct the air to pass above. I can't see the wind being diminished by the obstruction. The same thing happens when you build a high fence. The wind goes up and over, creating a swirl on the other side.

So what makes wind? As the sun warms the Earth's surface, the atmosphere warms too. Warm air, which weighs less than cold air, rises. Then cool air moves in and replaces the rising warm air. This movement of air is what makes the wind blow. The greater the difference in pressure, the faster the wind will blow.

What makes wind stop blowing? At night when convective mixing has stopped, the surface wind can slow considerably, or even stop altogether when the pressure has been equalized. I guess if the temperature above and below remains constant, the wind keeps blowing.

Do you think wind turbines on one farm can absorb all the wind before reaching another area?





7 Comments
Alana Mautone link
5/10/2015 08:26:15 pm

You made my Monday. I had to do a search engine search on "Can you steal someone else's wind"? I got some VERY interesting results! But it may interest you to know that the top result lead to an article on the expression "stealing someone else's thunder".

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K.Lee Banks link
5/10/2015 10:23:36 pm

What an interesting thought! I really can't imagine how one wind farm would impact another. I don't think it works the same way as damming up water and preventing it from reaching the next farm downstream!

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Mary Hill link
5/11/2015 02:30:13 am

I think this is silly. I don't think that winds can be impacted by having these farm close together. I don't understand how they can believe that? Here is an interesting site on wind farms: http://ramblingsdc.net/Australia/WindProblems.html

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Shonda link
5/11/2015 03:49:15 am

Driving from LA to Phoenix, we pass an area filled with windmills. A beautiful sight to see, yes, but I never considered there would be an issue between neighbors over stealing wind. Maybe my mind cannot comprehend it is even possible but I suppose we will hear more if these farmers cannot reconcile.

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Mina Joshi link
5/11/2015 06:51:05 am

Your Post has got me thinking as I really haven't given it much thought. Personally if they are spread out, it shouldn't matter but then I am not a scientist.

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Anamika Agnihotri link
5/11/2015 01:23:10 pm

This post reminded me of an incident in India from the past. A debate was going on in the Parliament over a huge dam built on a river in one state P for producing electricity. A very intelligent parliamentarian from another state H, a state into which that river eventually flowed further downstream, raised the concern that since the state P is extracting all the current out of the river water in producing electricity, the river water being devoid of the current and its richness is not helping in providing nutrients to the crops and so the harvest in state H is getting affected.

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Ina Tales
5/12/2015 05:12:11 pm

Don't think so. Living in the land of windmills for 20 years, I can say this is one element of nature which cannot be tamed so easily. Will be coming back to your blog to see what others think. Interesting.

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    Francene Stanley
    From England, I use news items in my novels which you can see below, all linked to an Amazon near you.

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