Quote:The highest potential locations are the Northeast and Northwest coasts, but the NIMBYs there put a stop to it years ago.

 

While those might be ideal locations, one of the other locations would be the top of the mountains in Hawaii on Oahu.  Go up there any time of year and the wind is always blowing.

 

The biggest problem is wind generation is probably the least efficient means of producing usable electricity.  The cost of building, installing and maintaining a wind generation facility at a profit just about exceeds the yield.  That's why there are government subsidies that go into these projects.  Nobody is going to do this for free.

 

A better alternative is to upgrade the current infrastructure.  "Clean" energy can be produced in much better ways, even if it's not "green".  Think about this.  How much natural gas is burned off and lost during the oil refining process?  What if infrastructure was put in place where people could convert and/or purchase vehicles that run on natural gas and not have a limited means of re-fueling their vehicle?  What if power plants were built and/or converted to use natural gas rather than say coal?

 

The problem that you run into is that natural gas is not considered "green" so a program designed to use a by-product of refining oil is "shot down" by those that prefer "green" energy.

 

The bottom line is, "green" energy is not efficient and not a means to power a country as large as the U.S.  Solar has come a long way, but it's still not as efficient as some other means of producing electricity.

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