Maybe there's no wind Down South?

[MrScorpio]

[LuvNewcastle]

1. It's time to put Lindsey Graham to work.

[Fumesucker]

2. Surprisingly little actually

One of the reasons the South is hot, humid and sticky in the summer.

[LuvNewcastle]

5. We could use windmills in a lot of the coastal areas.

There's usually a breeze here in Biloxi, which is a big reason the town was settled. Rich people from New Orleans came over and built summer homes to escape the heat and the plague. The wind isn't as strong here as it is in some other areas of the Gulf Coast, though, because we have islands off the coast. In a lot of coastal areas of Alabama and Florida, there's nearly always a good wind. I don't know much about the Atlantic areas, but the Gulf States could produce wind power. People down here are much more interested in producing oil, however.

[Fumesucker]

6. Out on the beaches or maybe offshore

Go back five miles inland and it's often calm when the beaches are windy.

I was actually surprised myself at how poor the wind resources are down here the first time I saw a map like that.

Here's a different map showing similar data.

[LuvNewcastle]

8. Yeah, we'd only be able to do it on the coast.

The inland areas can be unbearably hot sometimes. I don't how my ancestors stood it; most of them worked in their fields all summer. From your map, it looks like large areas of Georgia have practically no wind at all. That must be hell, especially in south Georgia.

[Fumesucker]

11. Anyone who had actually spent time in the South wouldn't have written that OP

It's blatantly obvious in the summer through so much of the South that there is no wind energy to be had, you'd sell your soul for a breeze.

And yeah, southern GA is a miserable mosquito infested sauna to live in.

[Tsiyu]

18. +1

Although they were doing some raptor studies in some areas of the Appalachians as a precursor to installing wind energy..

Some of the bluff and plateau regions get decent winds.

Not Valdosta, though....or Birmingham or Memphis

[Eleanors38]

16. Standing within a 3-D photograph...

it can be that still in a North Florida woods. I was told that when water-pumping wind mills Are used in much of Florida, they are closer to the ground, compared to the west, because what little breeze occurs is near ground.

[liberal N proud]

3. There are plenty of windbags in the south

And I think they are the primary reason for this map looking like it does.

[hobbit709]

4. But plenty of hot outgassings from repukes.

[dotymed]

7. There is plenty of sun (solar) in the South.

Yet, I expect the solar map would be comparable.

We have had a few large solar companies rip us off.
Austin Peay State Univ. in Clarksville, Tn. is a great example. This solar company, I cannot remember their name, came in and built some fantastic facilities at Austin Peay. They were paying a living wage to their workers. They opened a building to teach students how to operate the completed facility, it was a college major. For some excuse (?) they folded before they finished the facility and left many unemployed and with worthless (here) degrees. I understand that they used the same M.O. in another state (Arkansas?) I heard that they were operating under a state/federal grant, spent their money and left quickly. They left some nearly completed, nice looking facilities. I am sure (Koch(?)) some elites made some big bucks operating this scam.

[greenman3610]

9. they do have sun, tho

[Glitterati]

10. I looked at wind and solar when I bought this house

a year ago. The wind companies really wouldn't even talk to me. We just don't have enough wind to support the industry in NE Georgia.

Solar, now that's another story......I put in a solar spot light in the yard just to test the solar abilities before I went big with solar. I also needed a year to track the sun location and cycle in the yard. Since last year was so wet, I'll wait through this summer before seriously deciding if I can switch the house out to solar. Sure would be nice as I hate Georgia Power.

[HereSince1628]

12. Wind resource is just a starting point, areas also differ in legal and political issues.

These issues seem to be significantly restraining wind development in WI, compared to neighboring MN and IA.

At the surface the discussion is mostly about health risks from ultra-low frequency noise, but its also about aesthetic issues for nearby land owners and the impact on tourism related business.

Temperature differences between land and water along the Lake Michigan shoreline create convection that makes it one of the most attractive areas for wind development in the state. Yet, the tourism in communities along the shore generally relies on scenic viewing.

So we have some curious results. Even while the WI legislature is trying to deny towns the ability to exclude sand mining using local zoning ordinances to decrease health and scenic impacts of mining, measures were put forward in the WI legislature to enable towns (aka townships) to make stricter ordinances for siting of wind turbines than the rules at the state level.

Additionally, several bills have been introduced that seek to facilitate lawsuits ranging from property devaluation, medical costs, and potentially any other loss as a result of an industrial wind turbine located within 1.5 miles from a plaintiff. And one proposed law limited the defense against such lawsuits...the turbine operator could not argue in defense that the facility had been properly permitted.

The debate put the brakes on wind development in WI just by raising doubt about the safety of wind turbines in local populations and uncertainty about increased exposure to financial risks for developers.

[JoeyT]

13. Not a lot, and not consistently.

Flat isn't a big feature in a lot of it either.

[cordelia]

14. Or Connecticut.

[madokie]

15. Hell that an easy one

all the wind turbines up north captures all the wind before it gets down there

I thought everyone knew that

yes I'm being sarcastic

[Shankapotomus]

17. They had wind farms but

over the past decade wind has been horrifically over farmed in the south. It's a problem that is expected to happen elsewhere.

http://www.cc.com/video-clips/5ozs13/stand-up-john-oliver--wind-farming

[Eleanors38]

19. "Florida is one of only 2 states with no potential for wind power...

The other state is Mississippi." From a Wikipedia discussion Googled from: Solar power in Florida. Florida does have a big potential for solar power, and there are some "farms" operating there.

[progressoid]

20. Nebraska is very windy but has very little wind generated elec.