Conservatives in Washington are aghast at the liberal’s ambitions for utilities to trend away from fossil fuels toward natural energy resources. ” OMG. We can’t do that! ” The Democrats want to install a million solar panels and transform the majestic natural wonders of America ~ with hundreds of square miles of metal, glass, and high-voltage transmission lines.
Nobody ever thinks about wind power.
When you mention “wind power,” people think of wind farms in the Dakotas, Montana, Colorado, and Wyoming (purple areas in the map below). Offshore wind farms might enter your vision ~ but offshore, as in the Great Lakes? Check out the following map of wind power potential:
Blue areas have the greatest potential: offshore at the California-Oregon border, a few spots in Montana, Wyoming, Colorado – plus the Aleutian Islands in Alaska. Red areas are almost as good: the Pacific northwest, the Atlantic northeast ~ and the Great Lakes.
The above map is grounds for tremendous optimism for America’s renewable energy future. Wind farms miles offshore will not seriously affect the coastal view or ambiance, nor impact the path of migratory birds.
What, you don’t think we have the technology to build those giant wind turbines offshore. Wrong! Check out the following map of all the offshore oil platforms in the Gulf of Mexico. And you don’t have to worry about nasty oil spills, either, like what happened with the Deepwater Horizon.
The Geography of offshore oil.
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Excerpted from Going Green, available as an eBook at this list of eBook retailers online.