Comments

Kyle.Brandenl, yes, all this is just speculation, but that's the whole point of this article, to compare and share ideas. I completely agree that this needs to be tested. Also, I don't know about anyone else, but I'm not against wind power, I would just like to know what the side effects are before we start mass-converting wind power. To lhopki01, I apologize, my second comment made it sound as though I thought that the wind turbines would deflect the wind, but I believe, as I said in my first comment, that it's more likely that the wind would be slowed down, not deflected. Also, concerning your comment about wind farms not being as massive as mountain ranges, you're right, but this whole thing started with an article that had an estimate that stated that wind power could make up as much as 20% of the nation's energy by the year 2030, and for that to be possible there are going to be massive increases in the amount of wind turbines. As they are, I agree, they aren't going to have a large affect on the weather.

According to the law of conservation of energy, energy cannot be created or destroyed, so the energy gained from a windmill doesn't just appear, it has to be taken from the wind. I don't think the wind would be deflected by a windmill the way it's deflected by mountains or skyscrapers, the way Fatewilleatyou described it (and if it did then large "windfarms" could possibly create a rain shadows, which would change weather patterns), but would rather be forced through the multiple turbines, slowing the wind down. I don't know if I got everything right, please correct any mistakes, I would really like to hear more opinions on this. Also, it's spelled "ecosystem".