I just read that the U.S. Dept. of the Interior gave the approval for a wind farm (giant wind turbines) to generate power off the Massachusetts coast (Nantucket Sound). Because the Boston area is actually the WINDIEST (sorry, Chicago) city/area in the U.S. with an average daily wind speed of around 11 mph (Chicago's averages 10 mph daily), it's a great place to build this. It doesn't pollute (so it doesn't contribute to climate warming) and it will be in the ocean. I think this is a great solution to generating some energy! Here are the highlights:
LOCATION: Wind farm developer Cape Wind Associates would build 130 turbines over a 25-mile stretch of Nantucket Sound. The 400-foot turbines would be between five miles off Cape Cod at their closest point to land to 14 miles off Nantucket at their greatest distance.
ENERGY: Cape Wind says it can generate power by the end of 2012 and eventually would supply the equivalent of three-quarters of the power used on Cape Cod, which has about 225,000 residents.
COST:Estimates range from $1 billion to more than $2 billion, to be privately funded with opportunities to obtain federal stimulus dollars and tax credits.
OPPOSITION: Native American tribes say the project would interfere with sacred rituals and desecrate tribal burial sites. Others claim it would hurt the ecology of Nantucket Sound and endanger marine traffic while raising energy prices.
FOR AVERAGE WIND SPEEDS OF CITIES (by month): http://lwf.ncdc.noaa.gov/oa/climate/online/ccd/avgwind.html
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