You’ve heard of offshore oil drilling, how about offshore wind farming? The first offshore wind project has been approved to be built five miles off the Massachusetts coast over the objections of Cape Cod residents and vacationers who worry it might disturb their view. The $1 billion project could power 400,000 houses.
The Chinese have leapt past Western competitors in the race for alternative energy, becoming the world’s largest makers of wind turbines and solar panels. And they’re not done yet.
Billionaire T. Boone Pickens has dropped his plan to build a huge wind farm in Texas, citing financing problems and challenges posed by the economic recession. The collapse of the project adds weight to the notion that we won’t have practical alternative energy generation until the governments of the world, and the populations they represent, make lasting commitments of money and attention.