ALTERNATIVE ENERGY DISTRIBUTION

Below is a reference to an alternative energy news item that is so valuable it will form the bulk of this post.

http://www.climatecentral.org/news/new-energy-map-4-cool-things-about-renewables-17572

Although the solar power ability in the cloudier northeastern U.S. is less than, say, in New Mexico, the cost of electricity is also higher so it is pretty much of a wash, i.e. solar power is relatively as efficient in the NE as it is in lower latitude sunnier states.  And it can be cloudier than you think.  I had a solar heated room added to my house when I lived in Lakewood, CO, where solar panels heated water in 55 gal. drums and a fan circulated the hot air controlled by a thermostat.

As to wind power, I used to live in Lakewood Colorado, a suburb on the west side of Denver about halfway to the Front Range.  Winds were so high (gusts of 90 mph were common) that we had to tie down trailer offices for 90 mph winds.  There were people close to the Front Range who had double front doors and had a hard time keeping them closed.  They had to put positive closures that went into the floor and top of the frame.

I used to be involved in something called hot-dry-rock geothermal power a long time ago.  In this case you drill, say two wells, and put water down one and hyrdrofracture (frack) the rock between them creating an artificial geothermal power system.  Once a connection is established you can heat circulating water almost as a closed system.  A problem was that the water reacted with the rock (granite in the case I followed) and sealed the cracks so repeated fracking was necessary.  I don't know if any electricity is being produced this way but, of course, geothermal water is used to heat homes as well as used to develop electricity.