The new superpower?

My wife and I drove home to see my family in Nebraska for this last Christmas from Seattle. I've called the Pacific Northwest my home now for eight years and our population certainly considers itself forward thinking when it comes to minimizing our impact upon the planet. They also generally, and I STRESS generally (cuz we actually have a lot of cornhuskers living up here who share my perspective) consider the midwest to be backwards when it comes to energy consciousness and environmental concern. Here in Seattle we generate most of our electricity from hydroelectric power which, though it may cut the heads off a few salmon, is generally a "green" technology. I am designing an electric car at the moment and love being able to squash the "electricity comes from coal so its just as bad as combustion engines" argument by stating the source of our power.

After my trip I started thinking that wind power could become to the Midwest what hydroelectric is to the Northwest. During our trip I noted that as I moved further east from the coast there was an exponential increase in the amount of wind turbines along the way. Wyoming was definitely the hot spot. I must say that even as a native heartlander I was impressed with the progressive stance these folks had taken on energy independence.

If pure tree-hugging sentiment isn't enough for those in the midwest to adopt green energy solutions then perhaps economically it would make sense. I recently stumbled upon this map below:

As you can see, my homeland promises to become what the middle east is to fossil fuel once widespread wind energy technology is feasible... Notice the potential of Nebraska, and North and South Dakota for that matter, even when compared to the "windy city" to the east... Once we stop paying farmers government subsidies to destroy their surplus crops we can use that acreage to harvest something that could truly benefit our whole country. A great deal of those corn crops we produce are just made into high-fructose corn syrup that contributes to our national obesity epidemic anyhow...

That's my piece, clean energy NOW!