Are we running out of places to build wind farms?

It seems like a strange question, but have we run out of good places to build wind farms? On the face of it, one would think that a country as large at the U.S. is a long, long way from a time when we don't have the space to put up another turbine, but that's the question that Renewable Energy World is asking. Their answer?

It is no longer easy to find large pieces of land in advanced markets with all the right ingredients for a wind project: strong and steady winds, a welcoming community and easy access to transmission. Developers find themselves jostling for position, with four of five companies sometimes vying for the same sweet spot.

So, it's not that there's no space for wind farms, just that it's getting harder and harder to find areas where all the ingredients come together in just the right way. Still, we think that there's a lot of potential to build turbines on building rooftops and out in the desert. For people who want to keep the energy in their electric vehicles locally sourced, questions about the maximum potential of wind farms is something to keep an eye on. The U.S. government has, and it says that the, "maximum potential to generate wind power in the United States is more than three times greater than previously estimated," in part due to improvements in wind power technology.

[Source: Renewable Energy World via Domestic Energy, Great Lakes Regional Pollution Prevention Roundtable | Image: the russians are here - C.C. License 2.0]