Where will the turbines be?

TreeHuggers: meet the new neighbors. They'll draw tourist buses; local naturalists and wealthy landowners will be up in arms; and, poor farmers will be delighted at the income prospects. Will TreeHuggers grouse about hypothetical bat and bird mortality; or, will we facilitate a circumspect debate? There's a huge opportunity to take a local leadership role in site planning. US TreeHuggers can face these questions by looking here.

Great Lakes States residents should look by the shores of Gitcheegoomee.

(Click on the above link and you'll get the full scrolling version of this graphic).

More vital questions for scenario thinkers:

Chicken or Egg: An abundance of accessible green power may only tempt people to waste still more electricity. Perhaps its more important to focus first on energy conserving lifestyles and electronic goods. Which path should lead in other words? Perhaps parallel path development is best?

Which side will you be on? - a quick glance at the Gitcheegoomee link tells you that many miles of lakeshore could one day be in view of offshore windfarms. For the recently proposed US Cape Wind offshore turbine project, environmental, tourism business, and wealthy landowner interests seem to have allied in opposition based mainly on aesthetics. Will short term economic fears and property value concerns drive other coastal projects away?

Nucs Next: - If TreeHuggers largely take the opposing view, does that not create a political opening for more nuclear generation?

By Invitation: - What overlays would you put on the wind density maps to identify places that TreeHuggers would like to wind farms go?

by: John Laumer