Solar and Wind Potential Maps Released « It’s Getting Hot In Here

A powerful new tool was released today which allows you to see (for free!) the potential for wind and solar power installations at any location North or South America, and includes wind maps for the entire world. I like the site because it utilizes the easy to navigate Googlemaps technology that most people know very well. I know that state-level wind maps are publicly available in some areas, but this is the first comprehensive solar map I’ve seen, and is by far the easiest to use. From the company’s website:

On October 13, 2008, 3TIER, one of the world’s largest independent providers of assessment and forecasting of renewable energy, released the first comprehensive, contiguous and high-resolution solar map for the entire Western Hemisphere.

Go ahead, play around and find your city. What type of renewable energy would be most effective in your community?

About

As a sophomore at Walter Johnson High School in Maryland, Yochi was recruited to join the SSC's Montgomery County Student Environmental Activists. After a couple of weeks of hanging out with the SSC'ers, he started organizing what turned into a county-wide campaign that gained media attention and attracted the support of the county council. While an undergraduate student at the University of Michigan School of Natural Resources and Environment, Yochi founded a business partnership called Brewing Hope with farmers in Chiapas, Mexico. Working with students, faculty and businesses interested in promoting the fair trade system, Yochi set up a program that not only sold coffee, but also created a relationships between coffee growers and latte drinkers. Brewing Hope's student delegations visit Mexico to learn about coffee production and meet with indigenous communities while farmers from Chiapas travel to speak at educational events in the Midwest. He turned over the management reins of Brewing Hope to study the connection between biodiversity, economic sustainability and coffee certifications in Central America. Yochi now works at Co-op America, the national green business network, expanding the market for fair trade products and pressuring businesses to adopting forward thinking policies on climate change. Yochi's first blog was titled "The Neoliberal Chopping Block"

3 Responses to “Solar and Wind Potential Maps Released”

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1 gooseberry Oct 14th, 2008 at 5:40 pm

Thanks, very useful.
I hope they make the detail of the map to cover the UK as well.

But even the low detail available outside the US clearly shows that the UK is a good place for wind.
2 solarkent Oct 15th, 2008 at 4:34 am

Hi, yes, very useful, its realy useful having these resources highlighted like this. As I write I am waiting for delivery of my new wind turbine which will be installed over the next couple of weeks - then I am sure I will be presented with an order to remove it by my local council who objected to my otherwise invisible solar panels (I’m not overlooked). Wind maps apart, I’m confident of generating electricity with my new turbine as all the trees I plant grow at an angle! I’m also at just about the highest point in Kent UK.

Can I put a plug in for my own online map, http://www.renewables-map.co.uk which is a private venture to map all the major alternative energy power schemes. One of the next developments on the map is to put a time line of anouncement and installation. The Govt is starting to anounce projects that it had previously announced! Keep up the good work, I’ve just referenced your blog ‘Is your couch a carbon offset’ on my own blog commenting on the EU’s change of heart on the planned 20% CO2 reduction by 2020. It seems half of this can be in the form of carbon offsets! Pathetic isn’t it!
3 Kai Bosworth Oct 15th, 2008 at 5:03 pm

A nationwide map in a similar format had been available at http://navigator.awstruewind.com/ for some time, but this is great that it includes all of South and North America, as well as solar potential. Sweeet.