It seems that the writer of “Questions on Renewable Energy” should have paid more attention in high school science class.
You cannot create new energy but you can store energy, and that is how that system works. During the day, abundant solar power is used to pump water uphill for storage. That night, stored kinetic energy of the water is converted to electrical power as the water drives generators as it flows back downhill.
As for “environmental damage done by changing the air flow around these monsters?” Wind turbines move very slowly and are driven by the wind. They do not drive it. A wind farm represents less disruption to the atmosphere than 30-story high rises. Some urban areas, such as Houston, are so disruptive, they see a “rain shadow effect” on the lee side of downtown, similar to what we see on the Olympic Peninsula.
Humans are not the only species that will suffer from global warming. Canada and snow geese winter in Lewis County now, whereas 20 years ago they migrated further south. Swamps are drying up due to drought. Forests are burning. Bird habitat is disappearing.
The question about heat around solar arrays shows thermodynamic naivete. Solar energy is high frequency passing through air without heating it. The atmosphere is heated when solar high frequency heat hits the ground, pavement or some surface and is absorbed, then reradiated as low frequency heat that heats the air above it. Remember seeing the heat waves above a road surface on a summer day? Sunlight reflected off shiny or white surfaces goes back into the atmosphere without heating the air. That is the albedo effect. A sunny day after new snow can be very chilly. The albedo of snow is as high as 97%, meaning 97% of solar energy is reflected back into the atmosphere and not absorbed by the air. The albedo of plowed ground and black-top road surfaces exceed 90%.
Birds dying flying through a focused solar array? That happens around weather radar antennas, too. The magnetron in your microwave is a small version of magnetron tubes in weather radars. They pickup water droplets five microns in diameter 1000 miles away. That is very high frequency energy in large amounts. The company testing the first CPS-9 weather radars for the USAF found dead, cooked birds on catwalks on antenna towers. So, as you watch the evening weather report, know that birds may have given their lives so that you know whether to take an umbrella when you leave for work the next morning.
And finally, do you really want to live next to a nuclear power plant built in a subduction earthquake zone? How did that work out for the people of Fukushima?
(Full disclosure, I did not learn this in high school science class. I took earth science and physics in college and taught meteorology at the USAF Weather School for a few years.)
David Eatwell
Chehalis
