A world map of the best places for wind power

[kgrandia]

Generating electricity from the power of the wind is one of the many ways we can begin to wean North America off its reliance on dirty fuels like coal that produce massive amounts of heat-trapping greenhouse gas.

So where are the windiest places in the world that can power our lives?

NASA scientists have been creating maps using nearly a decade of data from NASA's QuikScat satellite that reveal ocean areas where winds could produce energy.

And here's the result: http://www.desmogblog.com/wheres-the-best-place-for-wind-power

(don't know how to post an image to the site. Can anyone help?)

[Muttocracy]

1. image...

Clicked on the image to get its own address; if you can't do that, you can right-click on the image on a PC to get the image location. Best to save it to your own PhotoBucket or other web account, but it's NASA so I'll go ahead and steal their bandwidth ;)

[kgrandia]

4. That's easy

Thanks. Still learning the ropes!

[Muttocracy]

5. DU is neat because it reads the images just with copy-paste

for common images anyway. No need to HTML img src="http://blah.blah"

[Muttocracy]

2. hadn't thought about it before, but it kind of balances warm sunny areas! nt

[TlalocW]

3. I recently visited family in Augusta, Kansas (close to Wichita)

Since I'm in Tulsa, I normally drive to the west to take I-35 North. When I left for home I decided to head out towards the east and drive most of the route that I would take when I would head to my college town (Pittsburg, KS), and I was surprised to see a huge wind farm about 10 miles east of Augusta. If Kansas is willing to do it, then the rest of the states need to get on the ball too.

TlalocW

[Muttocracy]

6. there's one in northeast Pennsylvania along the interstate

You're driving along and all the sudden you can see them on the next ridge - very cool. I keep seeing them driving parts for windmills through my town in upstate NY - crazy truckloads of BIG parts.

[4dsc]

7. More wishful thinking and dreaming...

I don't know why people want to believe that wind power will somehow, someday replace oil or wean ourselves off oil..

[DCKit]

8. Not all by itself - At least not right away....

But with solar electric, solar thermal, wind, biofuels, biomass and hydro/wave/tidal energy, we could do a hell of a lot of damage to the income of hostile foreign governments without having to spend trillions of dollars to invade them for their oil, natural gas and mineral wealth.

In Congressional hearings earlier this week T. Boone Pickens claimed that an investment of $600 billion in wind power would decrease our import of foreign oil by 38% - assuming that electric vehicles were available to use that electricity. Now 38% may not seem like much, but neither is $600 billion when compared to what the Bushit* maladministration is going to end up costing U.S.. Current estimates for Georgies misadventures in Presidentin' are upwards of $3 trillion and, as with any Republic junta, there will be further, hidden costs.

At this point, getting off foreign oil has become an issue of national security. Or would you prefer we continue to fund hostile, repressive regimes while simultaneously selling our debt to hostile foreign nations?

[4dsc]

9. Boone is just a bit wrong....

Its going to take TRILLIONS to make this boondoggle work because you would have to UPGRADE our current electrical distribution system..

DO some serious reading here about why Boone and Gore are both wrong..

Al Gore's fantasy energy challenge

http://energybulletin.net/node/46015

[DCKit]

10. Thanks for the Republican talking points link. "Nattering Nabob". Heh, that one never gets old.

I'd rather we spent trillions at home ensuring our national security than send it overseas to fund oppressive regimes, terrorist states and religious fundamentalists, but I'm weird that way.

With extraction, shipping, refining, then shipping again, there is more energy input in a gallon of gasoline than it would take to move an electric car the same distance - and that's before considering the inefficiency of the internal combustion engine. Additionally, considering tax breaks and government subsidies - U.S. military protection of the supply line being a huge component - the "true" cost of a gallon of gasoline is far higher. We could do better. Imagine using that same gasoline at home, in a generator, to provide car charging, domestic electricity, heating and hot water, aka co-generation. We could be doing it now if electric vehicles were widely available. Add domestic solar electric and solar thermal to the mix for peak shaving, and we'd cut the commercial generating requirements to below existing baseload production.

The electrical grid needs to be updated/upgraded anyway and, regardless the spin, it's going to be paid for by U.S.. Whatever they can't wring out in government subsidies is going to be on the backs of the ratepayers. Either way, the American citizen will be paying for it. Distributed generation in the form of co-generation, solar and wind would relieve much of the urgency for a total grid overhaul and drastically reduce the end cost.

There are too many things we could be doing and too many ways to do them for there to be any further excuses for doing nothing. I do not benefit from the energy monopoly and have no interest, as a consumer or, as a citizen, to see it continue. Quite the opposite, in fact. Having no wish to be held hostage, I would very much rather have control over my own production and use. Again, I'm weird that way.

[Finishline42]

11. But don't we need to upgrade the grid anyway?

Last big blackout in the Northeast was caused by one poorly run utility in Ohio. An updated grid would have prevented millions of $$$ in damage due to sudden loss of power.

And btw, we are sending $700 billion a year out of the country - which is a financial death wish.

What happens when China starts buying up US coal companies and sends all the coal to China?

[Kolesar]

12. Invest in an American company that makes wind power components

www.ge.com

There is also Clipper

[bhbwl]

14. Invest in GE?!!!!!

And why would I want to "invest" (translation: Oligarchs playing roulette with people's lives) in the Military-Industrial-Complex Juggernaut?

http://www.newday.com/films/DeadlyDeception.html

http://www.hrw.org/campaigns/mines/IV.3.ge.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GAU-8_Avenger

Chain guns, landmines, nukes...why would any sensible person (i.e., NOT a conservative) put their money there?

[bhbwl]

13. T. Boone Pickens is an Oil Robber-Baron...

If a greedy, fat-cat capitalist like him starts pimping wind power, it makes me assume something's wrong with wind power.

So he's getting behind wind. You can bet your bottom dollar he's not doing it to make the world a better place, but rather to feed his and his other fat-cat buddies' greedy appetites.

Think he cares at all about the environment?

http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2005-01-04-windmills-usat_x.htm