Placing Large-Scale of Wind and Solar Farms in the Sahara Desert

Executive Summary:

 This article is about how placing large-scale of wind and solar farms in the Sahara desert will power the world and green the desert as well. With the unbelievable scale of the Sahara desert, 30% of Africa continent, the world could be power since just by covered one-fifth of the area with solar panel it can produce up to 79 tetra watts compared to last year electricity demand was only 2.5 tetra watts. Rainfall and vegetation will increase due to the air mixture made by the turning of the blades as well as the surface darkening and warming cause by solar panel. As a result, Sahara desert will be wetter and greener.

It is believed that placing large-scale wind and solar farms in the Sahara desert would solve world power issue as well as greening the desert since it will result in rising temperature, more rain and more vegetation. Sahara desert has an unbelievable scale, 30% of Africa's continent - nine million square kilometers of land that is unproductive. Moreover, it is also really rich in sunlight and persistent wind. Therefore, it would be a wonderful source of renewable energy. Daniel Kirk-Davidoff and his team did a large-scale computer simulation of what happens if we maximize the use of Sahara's energy resources and found that the world would get access to vast energy sources and the desert would be greener through the process. It would produce 79 tetra watts of electrical energy converted from sunlight heat by just covered one-fifth of the Sahara desert surface compared to worldwide electricity demand was only 2.5 tetra watts last year.  There will be more rainfall and vegetation since the wind turbines mix the air and bring warmer air to the surface which will help wind move from high-pressure to low-pressure areas more easily. The warm air brought to the surface will rise again making it cool off and moisturize the air above which will lead to more rainfall. Kirk-Davidoff (2018) explain that solar panels would do this in a different way, by darkening and warming the surface of the Sahara, which would create a thermal updraft (Quirks & Quarks). According to the model above, just a small precipitation like that will increase the vegetation in areas in which plant growth previously. As a result, Sahara desert would be wetter and greener.

What is related to the course is that when the wind moves from high-pressure areas - which is dry and cold, to low-pressure areas - which is moisturized and hot. It is because heat will flow spontaneously from hotter object to cooler object surrounding - which is mentioned in Chapter 4, 4.3 Heat Transfer. Heat is a form of energy so in case of wind flow, it is basically an energy transfer between molecules.  Moreover, it also shows the interchangeability of energy mentioned in chapter 3, 3.3 the interchangeability of energy. When the turbine spin it produces energy which is converted into electricity, heat from the sunlight is converted into electrical energy).

...