USA: Offshore Wind Farms Could Weaken Hurricanes

An associate professor at the University of Delaware, Cristina L. Archer, spoke about various advantages of wind energy at the “Why Wind Energy?” seminar held at the Environmental and Natural Resource Sciences building on Cook Campus on Friday.

Besides its environmental benefits in comparison with fossil fuels, Archer stressed out the importance of abundance when it comes to wind energy, saying that scientists have estimated that petroleum will run out in 42 years and natural gas in 50 to 60 years, The Daily Targum writes.

One of the most interesting things that Archer talked about was the research of Professor Marc Jacobson from Stanford University, who studied how wind turbines can possibly weaken the power of hurricanes by harnessing energy from outer parts of the hurricane while producing terawatts of electricity.

The winds of the Hurricane Katrina could have been reduced from 20 to 25 meters per second to five to ten meters per second, if there had been offshore wind farms in the way. Also, offshore wind turbines could probably slightly change the course of a hurricane, The Daily Targum cites Archer as saying.

[mappress]

Offshore WIND Staff, February 18, 2013; Image: Alpha Ventus