April 30, 2012 | Rohan

You’d think wind turbines would create a draught, but it seems they could instead cause warming at night… A study of wind farms in Texas reveals that they might heat up the ground around them. The increase in temperature is small, less than 1 degree Celsius, but it’s enough to be seen by NASA satellites.

When it’s cold at night, the air a few metres up can actually be warmer than the ground. Researchers think that tall turbines churn the air around them and push warm air downwards, which heats the surrounding area.