The All-time Villian: Global Warming

Discussing 'global warming' is intended as a 'warm up' routine for this blog before the serious work out sessions begin with detailed discussions filled with environmental jargon. So its only prudent to chose global warming as the first official topic of discussion as it is widely discussed from serious personnel like lobbyists to middle school teachers lamenting about predicament of polar bears and the rising ocean levels.

However, I recently came across this article in the newspaper(I will make it a point to cite sources next post onwards) that claimed global warming to be an official suspect for decreasing wind power. According to the text, global warming causes faster heating of the poles which further leads to a lower temperature gradient between the poles and the equator. This temperature gradient that is primarily responsible for causing wind currents is thereby reduced producing lesser winds and consequently lesser wind energy. This situation puts mankind in a catch-22 situation as ironically, wind energy seems to be affected by the very problem it is discovered to restrain.

Wind Energy has shown tremendous promise for a greener tomorrow in the aftermath of the burnout of fossils or at the time man cannot afford to use it anymore. It is alternately known as the cleaner fuel at par with solar energy.

In Texas itself, wind energy is gaining importance as greater number of wind turbines are being set up tapping into the abundant wind energy. I worked on a project (with Arc GIS) that mapped wind farms in the Northeastern counties of Texas. I am very happy to report that since 2006 the number of wind turbines has more than tripled. I will shortly upload a picture that shows the increase in number of windmills across various counties in Northeast Texas.

Something to think about. If we do not bring our collective and individual carbon footprints in check, we may end up exhausting or seriously affecting our sources of alternative fuels.