Wind and Waves

News from MSNBC that the island of Maui is planning a wind farm that will provide 20% of the island’s power needs. This seems like a natural fit given the high cost of importing fuel oil to the far out fiftieth state.

Meanwhile in the continental 48, Michigan is struggling with some of the aesthetic trade offs of large wind turbines sitting near the great lakes. The article claims that these have become more of an issue as turbines are proposed closer to Detroit, but having been there, we kind of wonder what aspect of Detroit people are really worried about ruining.


In related power news that should be of interest to Hawaiians, Michiganders and anyone else with a coast, the Economist technology section reports on the development of a new wave power generator that should (in theory) be free from the maintenance and reliability headaches that plague this type of renewable.

Hopefully these things wont make surfing any harder than it already is.