American Offshore Wind Turbines

     Consider:

     The Global Wind Energy Council, headquartered in Brussels, recently stated that "2010 was a record year for offshore wind development in Europe".  (That means jobs.)
     On the average, the offshore wind farms (clusters of wind turbines standing in the sea) were 27.1 kilometers from the coast.  On the average, the turbines stood in water that was 17.4 meters deep. 
     So many European countries are building offshore wind farms that the European nations are now planning "a future transnational offshore super grid".  (That means jobs.)
     The grid will "improve the ability to trade electricity in Europe".  Such trade will encourage a steady supply of electricity at a competitive price.
     The transnational grid will also create an exercise in teamwork, "thereby contributing dramatically to Europe's energy security."  Russia may cut off the flow of oil and gas to Europe, but the wind will blow forever.
     Ten countries are now planning this international grid: Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Ireland, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, and the United Kingdom.  Their teamwork extends into the universities, where the next generation of electrical engineers, and clean energy economists, and clean energy lawyers, are preparing to build a genuine response to climate change.
    
     On the other hand, the United States does not have one single offshore wind turbine.  Along the entire Atlantic coast, in the Gulf of Mexico, along the entire Pacific coast, and in each of the Great Lakes: not a single wind turbine.  Zero.

     Perhaps one day we shall bestir ourselves to ask, "Why?"


                                                            John Slade