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You didn't think they would catch on in the ocean or on land? I drove through rural Minnesota and South Dakota on a road trip last week and was amazed at how ma
by knz 10y ago
You didn't think they would catch on in the ocean or on land? I drove through rural Minnesota and South Dakota on a road trip last week and was amazed at how many turbines are out there these days. Xcel energy in Minnesota offers a program for customers to get their energy from wind sources (obviously it still comes from the grid but I assume they offset any coal generation). We've had it for a few years and the average cost has been ~ $6/month. $6/month to support the local economy and the development of renewable energy production is a great deal considering the environmental and social costs of coal generation. Frankly I wish they would make it opt out rather than opt in.
I also caught the start of an interview yesterday about how the state of the national grid is a major limitation in our ability to consume these forms of energy (http://www.npr.org/2016/08/22/490932307/aging-and-unstable-the-nations-electrical-grid-is-the-weakest-link http://www.npr.org/2016/08/22/490932307/aging-and-unstable-t...). Hopefully our elected official will start working on that problem soon rather than bickering about bathrooms and building walls...
- tombert 10y agoI didn't know that they were so prevalent, though I suppose that I shouldn't be surprised; my current energy plan does a wind-offset thing right now.
- knz 10y agoI'm not sure how accurate the data is but the USGS have a GIS map of turbine locations - http://eerscmap.usgs.gov/windfarm/ http://eerscmap.usgs.gov/windfarm/. This website (http://www.awea.org/resources/statefactsheets.aspx?itemnumber=890 http://www.awea.org/resources/statefactsheets.aspx?itemnumbe...) also states that "Every state in the United States has either an operational wind energy project, a wind-related manufacturing facility, or both. Approximately 1,000 utility scale wind projects – which represent 74,512 megawatts (MW) and over 48,800 wind turbines – are installed across 40 U.S. states plus Puerto Rico and Guam. There are also more than 500 wind manufacturing facilities spread across 43 states."