Climate model shows large-scale wind and solar farms in the Sahara increase rain and vegetation

• Published in: Science (American Association for the Advancement of Science) Vol. 361; no. 6406; pp. 1019 - 1022
• Main Authors: Li, Yan, Kalnay, Eugenia, Motesharrei, Safa, Rivas, Jorge, Kucharski, Fred, Kirk-Davidoff, Daniel, Bach, Eviatar, Zeng, Ning
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States The American Association for the Advancement of Science 07.09.2018
• Subjects: Albedo; Anthropogenic factors; Climate change; Climate models; Drag reduction; Feedback; Friction reduction; Human influences; Positive feedback; Precipitation; Rainfall; Renewable energy; Scale (ratio); Solar energy; Solar farms; Solar power; Solar power generation; Surface properties; Vegetation; Wind farms; Wind power; Wind power generation; Sahel (African region)

Energy generation by wind and solar farms could reduce carbon emissions and thus mitigate anthropogenic climate change. But is this its only benefit? Li et al. conducted experiments using a climate model to show that the installation of large-scale wind and solar power generation facilities in the S...