Alternative energy it’s an option that picked up our interest for decades, being ecofriendly and also endless, or so we thought. Wind energy, for example does seem to have a great potential. Governments and important names in the energy industry want to build more wind turbines and expand this business. At present 2% of the whole energy in America is represented by wind energy. The potential is huge, especially in the Great Plains and the Great Lakes (Lakes Michigan, Superior and Erie), but with the last century climate changes, people are concerned about the viability of their projects. Now it’s the scientists turn to make solid predictions and determine what would be the evolution of the wind intensity and direction in the coming decades. Will the global warming change everything we know?
The scientists have used three different models: the Canadian Regional Climate Model, the Regional Climate Model 3and the Hadley Centre Model, so that their results would be more credible. All three climate models have shown no major change in the wind intensity even with an increase of global temperature of about two degrees. The study has been made on the lower 48 American states and a part of northern Mexico. The only differences that could be observed between the models were similar with the variations of wind intensity usually seen in wind patterns.
The importance of this study is even greater because it is the first done for this particular purpose, and it opens the way for other, more advanced ones. The energy industry is continuously expanding and the investment done to develop better and more efficient wind turbines needs to be backed up by some reliable assurances, especially since the goal in wind energy is that it will represent about 20% of America’s total energy production by 2030.
Recent studies have shown that it’s not necessary to keep the cattle on a pasture until almost complete depletion before moving them. In fact, those studies determined that it’s even healthier for the animals if they move more often from a pasture to another. This is called rotational grazing.
Let’s see why this type of grazing better is and what its benefits are. From the cattle’s perspective, grazing just a little while on a pasture before moving on, it’s better because the animals will only get the best grass, the richest in nutrients. Also, they’ll always have plenty to graze, because the place will be new all the time. This will increase their weight and productions.
From the wildlife’s point of view, having the herd of cattle there for a smaller period of time will imply they’ll be less disturbed and more time to manifest their normal behavior. Also, if the cattle won’t deplete their food source, the natural balance won’t be disturbed too much.
There is one more perspective we should look at when we consider rotational grazing: the flora’s perspective. Not being totally depleted of leaves, the plants have a better chance of recovering and replenish the grazing area. By giving it enough time, the farmers won’t feel the need to replace the indigenous flora with the exotic plants that are known to have a better productivity. The reason why maintaining the local flora is better than planting a new one, is that on the long run, the land will suffer because the soil is not use to these plants and will lose its fertility, becoming useless for agriculture and farming.
As the health of the soil is the key to success in raising cattle, rotational grazing could prove a revolutionary change in this agricultural segment and can also be one of the first ecological measures that can be applied on a large scale to protect nature and provide for the needs of humanity.
Alternative energy it’s an option that picked up our interest for decades, being ecofriendly and also endless, or so we thought. Wind energy, for example does seem to have a great potential. Governments and important names in the energy industry want to build more wind turbines and expand this business. At present 2% of the whole energy in America is represented by wind energy. The potential is huge, especially in the Great Plains and the Great Lakes (Lakes Michigan, Superior and Erie), but with the last century climate changes, people are concerned about the viability of their projects. Now it’s the scientists turn to make solid predictions and determine what would be the evolution of the wind intensity and direction in the coming decades. Will the global warming change everything we know?