Where has the wind gone? ‘Global stilling’ is blamed as wind speeds drop across Europe cutting green energy production – threatening to drive up energy prices even FURTHER
Industry experts warn climate change could be causing wind speeds to drop
Weather modelling groups and academics say ‘global stifling’ has caused a reduction in wind speeds by up to 15pc already this year in parts of Europe
News is a fresh damning blow amid spiralling global gas and energy shortages
Experts are warning that climate change may have caused wind speeds in Europe to plummet this year in news that threatens to drive energy prices even higher.
Long labelled as a saviour of the energy industry, wind farms have cropped up across the continent in recent years and have been billed a low-cost, renewable and dependable source of power.
Increased dependence on green forms of energy has also been touted as a solution to Britain’s national gas crisis, amid soaring global prices and energy bills set to reach record-breaking levels.
But weather modelling groups and academics appear to have quashed those hopes, as ever-increasing global temperatures are threatening to derail any prospective green energy revolution.
Experts are blaming a growing phenomenon known as ‘global stilling’ – whereby measurable wind speeds across the world’s continental surfaces have decreased by as much as 15 per cent since 1980.
Atmosphere expert Professor Paul Williams, of the University of Reading, told the Financial Times that winds have ‘generally weakened over land over the past few decades’.
He said one explanation for plummeting wind speeds could be ‘human-related climate change’, that would see poles warming ‘faster than tropics in lower atmosphere’ areas.
Prof Williams said: ‘This would have the effect of weakening the mid-latitude north-south temperature difference and consequently reducing the thermal wind at low altitudes Read more https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10075301/Global-stilling-blamed-wind-speeds-drop-Europe-threaten-drive-energy-prices.html?fbclid=IwAR1R5IscOYzjjv90nh6LUnWwFPkuH8WoI904cGRN6qbycKPADj99dkZBeUs
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