Global Wind Day
I heard it on the radio this morning - today is the first Global Wind Day.
The purpose of this day is to increase the awareness of wind energy as an alternative source of power without the use of fossil fuels.
It is being celebrated in 30 countries around the planet.
In our country, wind is being equated to the deserts of Saudi Arabia.
Where they are rich in oil, we are rich in wind with our wide open plains and prairies.
We do harvest this element of nature with our wind turbines, but there has been some concern over the past 30 years as the amount of wind has begun to diminish in many areas of the country.
The areas where this is most evident is the Northeast and the Great Lakes.
Scientists believe that this is due to the climate changes from the global warming and have studies from 1973-2000 to support their findings.
Since global warming is blamed for many things, how did they find that it has affected the wind supply?
First, there is less of a difference in the temperatures between the poles and the equator.
This is happening as the poles become warmer.
Second, the barometric pressure is brought down as there is less of a temperature difference between the colliding air masses.
This brings down the wind currents that run about 30 feet above the ground - where we measure our wind speeds and calculate the supply of it.
Unheard of in the past, there are endless days of no wind in the affected areas of our country.
Windless days can affect humans and agriculture in much the same way.
We need the the wind to move the air during our summer heat waves.
The ventilation from the wind also helps with the pollution levels in the cities.
As far as the agriculture goes - the plants need the wind just as much as we do.
The dew that forms on the crops overnight gets dried by the wind each day and that keeps the plants healthy.
If the dew were to stay on the plants, they would develop fungus and disease - seriously affecting our food supply.
The wind turbines that we use for energy are higher than the 30 feet that we humans exist in. Scientists are just now beginning to study the wind supplies in those levels - a whole new frontier that has opened up.
So, this first wind day is important - a step towards using an alternative energy source that will reduce our carbon footprint. This in effect will help reduce the global warming of our home, the Earth.