Scientists say it is possible to reforest part of the Sahara

Researchers have come to the conclusion that large-scale installation of solar and wind power plants may bring more rainfall and promote vegetation growth in desert regions.

Initiatives like the Sahara Solar Breeder Project study how to turn the Sahara into a potentially infinite generator of energy. Through it, it is expected to supply half the world by 2050 with desert solar panel farms.

While wind and solar power plants are known to affect the heat and humidity of a region, the environmental impact that such projects would have on the desert itself has been largely ignored. But a new study published in the journal Science reveals that these facilities can not only fuel the world, but also transform the Sahara for the better.

Researchers have developed climate models based on temperature, precipitation and vegetation changes that would occur if the entire Sahara were covered by solar and wind farms. Such a project could double rainfall from the Sahara and neighboring Sahel, as well as help to increase vegetation by 20%.

"Increasing precipitation is a consequence of complex earth-atmosphere interactions that occur because solar panels and wind turbines create darker, rugged earth surfaces, " study co-author Eugenia Kalnay told the University of Illinois.

Wind turbines pull warmer air to the surface, while solar panels help reduce surface reflectivity, both known to increase rainfall, turning the arid landscape into a global, green, renewable machine.

Safa Motesharrei, another co-author of the paper, said increased rainfall and vegetation, combined with clean electricity as a result of solar and wind energy, could help agriculture, economic development and social welfare in the Sahara, Sahel, Middle East and other nearby regions.

Scientists say it is possible to reforest part of the Sahara via TecMundo