The Winds of Change

http://www.usnews.com/articles/business/economy/2007/10/26/getting-a-second-wind.html

Did you know that the fastest growing renewable energy source is wind energy? Wind energy is a renewable energy source that is always in great abundance and has the potential to power the nation. In the United States alone there is a wind turbine built every 4 hours. However, current data shows that still only makes up 1% of the nations energy production. The latest plan in the United States is to build a new wind turbine every 15 minutes, thus boosting wind energy usage to 20%. The United States data still pales in comparison to the efficiency of our neighbors across the pond in Europe. Europeans have long reaped the benefits of using wind energy, and have now shifted their focus to where the wind is most abundant...offshore. In a recent article written by Marianne Lavelle, for the U.S. News and World Report describes how an American company Clipper is working on a research study in England to make the world's largest offshore wind turbine. By placing the wind turbines offshore, the turbines can be placed higher to catch the more powerful wind currents and still be placed close to highly populated areas. Why, one might ask, is a U.S. based company working to with the British to develop the world's largest wind turbine? The answer is because here in the United States we are stuck on the details, such as location. Some people want the wind turbines to be built offshore, where they cost more to build, but are more efficient. Others, want the turbines to be built onshore primarily in Texas, where they cost less to build, but would be less efficient. My opinion of the debate is why not have both? When the turbines built onshore are not producing enough energy, we can then in turn rely on the offshore turbines.