January 5, 2011-by Bill Opalka in Renewables Biz
For years the economic benefits of wind turbineson farms have been limited to discussions about lease payments. Now, a new study seems to indicate the presence of spinning blades has the added economic benefit of better crop yields.
Corn Farm/Wind Farm in Benton County, IN has provided substantial economic benefits for landowners in this NW Indiana region. Now, research seems to indicate that the wind turbines are good for the crops as well. Photo © 2011 John Blair
The blades that might also help corn and soybean crops stay cooler and drier, help them fend off fungal infestations and improve their ability to extract growth-enhancing carbon dioxide from the air and soil, according to this study.
The preliminary findings of a months-long study were recently presented at the annual fall meeting of the American Geophysical Union in San Francisco. The presentation was made by researcher Gene Takle of the U.S. Department of Energy’s Ames Laboratory and Julie Lundquist, assistant professor in the University of Colorado at Boulder’s atmospheric and oceanic studies department.
“We’ve finished the first phase of our research, and we’re confident that wind turbines do produce measureable effects on the microclimate near crops,” Takle said. He is also the director of the Climate Science Program at Iowa State University.
According to Takle, turbine blades channel air downward, in effect bathing the crops below with the increased airflow they create.
“Our laser instrument could detect a beautiful plume of increased turbulence that persisted even a quarter-mile downwind of a turbine,” Lundquist said.
Lundquist’s team uses a specialized laser known as lidar to measure winds and turbulence from near the Earth’s surface to well above the uppermost tip of a turbine blade.
Both Lundquist and Takle stressed their early findings have yet to definitively establish whether or not wind turbines are beneficial to the health and yield potential of soybeans and corn planted nearby. However, their finding that the turbines increase airflow over surrounding crops suggests this is a realistic possibility. Read More