Wind and solar farms can make their own weather, including extra rain over the Sahara
A worker walks past solar mirrors at Morocco’s Noor 1 Concentrated Solar Power plant on the edge of the Sahara. Researchers say that the widespread deployment of solar and wind farms in the African desert could cause more rain to fall and more plants to grow. (Fadel Senna / AFP/Getty Images)
You already know that using solar and wind power can influence the climate by reducing
our dependence on heat-trapping fossil fuels. Now scientists say these renewable forms of
energy can change the climate more directly — and do it in ways that might surprise you.
If wind turbines and solar panels were deployed across the Sahara, more rain would fall and
more plants would grow in the massive African desert, according to research published in
Friday’s edition of the journal Science.
An aerial view of the solar mirrors at the power plant in Morocco. (Fadel Senna / AFP/Getty Images)