Region
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Climate
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Renewable Energy With the Most Potential
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U.S. Southwest
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Mostly desert (Hot, sunny, dry). (California also has a Mediterranean climate on west facing mountain slopes near the coast and a highland climate at some mountain peaks.)
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Solar
CA coast: Tidal/Wave & Solar
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Pacific Northwest
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Marine West Coast climate in coastal areas and Highland climate in other areas. (Highland climate varies. You can have an Alpine climate in the high parts of mountains, a Humid Continental climate on windward sides to the west of mountains, and a semi-arid climate to the east of some large mountains due to the rain shadow). There is a presence of potentially active volcanoes in this area.
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Geothermal
Coastal Areas: Geothermal & Tidal/Wave.
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Alaska
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Climate ranges from Maritime Polar (mean annual temp. low 40’s Fahrenheit) in the south to Arctic (mean annual temp. 10 degrees F) in the North. Plentiful precipitation mostly made up of snowfall. Very strong winds in coastal and adjacent areas. In the interior, winds are lighter. 9,728 named streams, 12 large international rivers. The Aleutian Islands and Alaskan Peninsula have potentially active volcanoes.
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Aleutian Islands & Alaskan Peninsula: Geothermal, Wind & Tidal/Wave.
Coastal & Adjacent Areas: Wind & Tidal/Wave
Interior: Hydropower*
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Hawaii
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Tropical (Hot, sunny, wet). Islands created by volcanoes.
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Solar & Geothermal
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Great Plains / Central U.S.
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Humid continental (varied climate, hot summers and cold winters) in Northern & Central, Humid subtropical (hot, humid summers, rare snowfall in winter) in Southern. This is the windiest area in the United States.
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Wind
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U.S. Southeast
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Humid subtropical (hot, humid summers, rare snowfall in winter)
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Solar
Coastal areas: Tidal/Wave & Solar
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U.S. Northeast
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Humid continental (varied climate, hot summers and cold winters)
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Wind & Solar (Both have modest potential here, but have high potential when combined. When the solar is not working well during the winter, the wind will be picking up).
Coastal areas: Tidal/Wave, Wind & Solar
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*The government needs to study possible environmental effects of a dam on local ecology before choosing this option.
Cost
Getting a geothermal system installed will cost between $10,000 and $20,000 before tax rebates, depending on the size of the home. Geothermal will save 30-40% on energy bills, paying for itself in 4-10 years, depending on the size of the system and the efficiency of the energy the homeowner was using previously.
I have not included pricing for hydropower and tidal/wave as these would be large scale projects to be taken on by government, not by private citizens.
Click the Solar and Wind Estimator below to estimate the cost of converting to solar and/or wind energy.
Click the Solar and Wind Estimator below to estimate the cost of converting to solar and/or wind energy.
