Top 10 states for wind power in the United States
A new report analyzing the potential of wind power in the United States has revealed the top 10 states for turbines. The good news: America has more potential than we first thought.
In a report by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory and Albany, N.Y.-based renewable energy consulting firm AWS Truewind, wind turbines in the continental U.S. could generate 37 PWh (petawatt-hours) per year -- far more than the 3,816,000,000 MWh (or about 3.8 PWh) per year currently required to power the nation, as estimated in 2005.
The report also inspected how the 48 contiguous states stack up in wind power potential.
Here are the Top 10:
- Texas: 6,527,850 GWh/yr
- Kansas: 3,646,590
- Montana: 3,228,620
- Nebraska: 3,540,370
- South Dakota: 3,411,690
- North Dakota: 2,983,750
- Iowa: 2,026,340
- Wyoming: 1,944,340
- Oklahoma: 1,788,910
- New Mexico: 1,644,970
The worst states? Mississippi, Florida, Delaware, Connecticut, Rhode Island and Kentucky.
Still, the study found that the annual production of power from wind energy using turbines at a taller 80-meter height would be the energy equivalent of all proven oil and natural gas reserves in the U.S.
Not bad at all.
This post was originally published on Smartplanet.com