BEST NEW ENERGY IN THE U.S.

Forbes ran a terrific collection of New Energy resource maps from the 3Tier Group July 9 with an article stating the obvious: The best place to develop wind energy projects is where there are good winds, the best place to develop solar is where there is strong solar energy, the best place to drill for geothermal is where there are geothermal resources and the best place to develop biomass is where there is plentiful biomass.

The Forbes article opens with an impressive collection of numbers: The world consumes a cubic mile of oil yearly. To replace it: 4.2 billion wind turbines or 91.2 [billion] solar panels or 2,500 nuclear power plants or 200 Three Gorges Dams.

Impressive, but what in the world does that mean? Oil is used for transportation fuel. All those other energies are used to generate electricity.

Nevermind. Check the fast facts and click through for the whole slide show if the posted pix aren’t enough.

More impressive numbers: The U.S. spends ~$1 trillion/year, 10% of GDP, to power 114 million households, 82 billion square feet of commercial building space, 130 million cars and 95 million trucks.

One thing Forbes got right: “If there is a cheap and clean energy source out there, odds are someone--looking in the right place--will find it.”

Forbes and 3Tier say Alaska is number 1 in wind potential. (click to enlarge)

Green Power: America’s Best Places For Alternative Energy
William Pentland, July 9, 2008 (Forbes)

WHO
U.S. New Energy producers; 3Tier Group

WHAT
Because the emerging perception in the business community is that traditional power generation must and will be replaced by a constellation of New Energies, an assessment of where the best resources are is timely. New Energies assessed: Wind, Solar, Geothermal and Biomass.

Forbes and 3Tier say Nevada is number 1 in geothermal potential. (click to enlarge)

WHEN
The assessment is based on current production and the best present estimates of potentials from extraordinary maps generated by cutting edge resource-mapping technologies from the 3Tier Group.

WHERE
U.S. assets are mapped and enumerated.

Forbes and 3Tier say Arizona is number 1 in solar potential. (click to enlarge)

WHY
- Best wind: (1) Alaska (2) Texas (3) Kansas (4) Nebraska (5) Montana
- Oil entrepreneur T. Boone Pickens is building the biggest wind energy installation in the world in the Texas panhandle.
- The Judith Gap Energy Center in Wheatland County, Mont., supplies a little over 8% of Northwestern's Power Grid.
- Best solar: (1) Nevada (2) Utah (3) Idaho (4) Oregon (5) California
- 11 square miles of Kern County in California’s Mojave Desert receive more solar insolation (solar radiation/surface area) annually than any other similar sized place in North America.
- Best geothermal: (1) Arizona (2) New Mexico (3) California (4) Nevada (5) Texas
Hot springs are the best indicator of deep geothermal.
- Puna Geothermal power plant, 21 miles south of Hilo over the Kilauea Volcano provides 30% of Hawaii’s Big Island's power.
- Best biomass: (1) Iowa (2) North Dakota (3) Georgia (4) Mississippi (5) North Carolina
- Presently: Best biomass is in farmbelt resources.
- Long term: Best biomass will come from non-food based feedstocks (switchgrass, wood chips, forest residues).

QUOTES
Pat Gruber, CEO, biofuels start-up Gevo: "What feedstock is available at what cost is totally a regional thing…"