Science & Technology
Wind farms: is Britain 'running out of wind'?
By
T.K. RandallJune 4, 2011 ·
11 comments
Image Credit: sxc.hu
A decline in the average wind speed over the last few years may mean the end for wind turbines.
Over the last year the average wind speed across Britain has dropped 20% due to a shift in the Atlantic jet stream. Scientists believe this has also happened before between 1645 and 1715 leading to what has been historically known as the mini-ice age.
According to government figures, 13 of the past 16 months have been calmer than normal - while 2010 was the “stillest” year of the past decade. Meteorologists believe that changes to the Atlantic jet stream could alter the pattern of winds over the next 40 years and leave much of the nation’s growing army of power-generating turbines becalmed.
Source:
Telegraph |
Comments (11)
Tags:
Please Login or Register to post a comment.