Monday, July 24, 2006

Harnessing the wind

I'm a huge fan of alternative energy. Especially renewable energy. Tis why I was excited to see my first wind farm in Alberta (down near Pincher Creek) back in the day. Little did I know at the time that this farm (or even the bigger one they just built near Fort MacLeod) pales in comparison to other wind farms. On our first trip to Los Angeles in March 2004, I decided to bypass the 210/10 freeway nightmare west through Pasadena to Simi Valley (coming from Vegas). Instead we headed west at Barstow, past Edwards Air Force Base to Lancaster. That's when I saw the wind farm to beat all wind farms. Follow this Google map link and you'll see almost straight diagonal lines in the centre of the map. Zoom in and you'll see that those lines are access roads to the wind turbines. Keep zooming and you'll actually see their shadows cast on the desert. The area is hilly, so if you think it looks impressive from space, you should see what it looks like as you get close on the ground.

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