Can we realistically harness a tornado’s wind energy at all?

[SeekerOfTruth007]

So an apparent Dummycrat on Quora wanted to know whether we could somehow harness the wind energy of tornadoes.

to make a long story short, I explained that helical winds in excess of 75mph will destroy a wind turbine no matter what you make it with, and 75mph is not even considered an EF0 tornado.

[Chazmatazz269]

It’s likely possible, just not economically feasible. Almost everything that we take for granted today was considered “impossible” half a century ago and was beyond our wildest dreams a century ago. Yet here we are. We’re literally only a couple of radical ideas away from harnessing energy from lightning, tornadoes, hurricanes, tsunamis, et cetera.
The real problem is that these things are somewhat unpredictable and, based on predictability, fairly rare. So even if we could build machines to harness such energy, what would be the net return on investment? Almost nil. And that is ultimately why too little money is invested in these things.

[SeekerOfTruth007]

No, we are not an "idea away" from harnessing tornadoes. Even a WEAK tornado destroys every substance known to man... and Tsunamis are absolutely more destructive than tornadoes.

I have 180 Credit Hours completed in Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics related fields, and I've spent my entire adult life studying weather disasters and geology disasters. There is NO WAY to ever harness any of those disasters you mentioned, not even with advanced meta-materials such as carbon nanotubes.

During Hurricane Ida, a small tropical tornado hit my neighbor's barn which was used for protecting tractor equipment. The barn had pylons which were concreted in the ground three feet thick. The tornado didn't care. It produced such a powerful updraft that it ripped the barn's pylons out of the ground and threw the whole structure into the air. Ripped up the three feet deep concrete pylons, and that is considered an EF0 "tropical" Tornado. It's nothing compared to the EF4 and EF5 Spring Tornadoes which hit Tornado Alley and Dixie Ally in spring.

This amount of wind, even an EF0 Tornado, will literally rip the concrete foundation of a wind turbine right out of the ground and throw it sky high.

Money is not invested on this nonsense, because real engineers have already proven that it is scientifically impossible to harness natural disasters.

[Chazmatazz269]

You’re full of crap. Cite the “scientific” research that “proves” any of your nonsense. I defy you. By this time tomorrow, you will have removed my response because you can’t prove anything and you don’t want anyone to know how completely full of sh*t you are.

[SeekerOfTruth007]

I majored in Geology and Engineering, guy. I don't need to cite a damned thing to you. You're incompetent. Use Google AI if you don't believe me.

Here's the Cliff Notes of an AI search for you.

Key Scientific ChallengesScientists and engineers cite several reasons why capturing energy from natural tornadoes is unfeasible with current technology:Destructive Power: Tornadoes are violent and chaotic; any stationary turbine strong enough to survive their 200+ mph winds would be too heavy to be mobile, while mobile versions are rarely sturdy enough to withstand the impact. Unpredictability: Tornadoes do not follow fixed paths or form in the same spot repeatedly. The statistical chance of a tornado hitting a specific, pre-built energy-harvesting structure is astronomically low. Infrastructure Risks: Attempting to interact with these storms could inadvertently alter their path or intensity, posing significant risks to human safety and environmental stability

[jshm2]

No.

Mainly due to the fact tornado's move around, so any "harnessing" needs to also move around. Then it's down to the simple fact tornado's are largely unknown and it's not understood fully where and how they spring up.

[NathanDavis]

yeah... and who the hell is going to carry such giant wind turbines all over the place... going after the tornado... so stupid

[slatyb]

No, we can't.