Nikolewski, R. (2019, December 5). Offshore wind still looks to get a foothold in California. Retrieved from https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/business/energy-green/story/2019-12-05/offshore-wind-still-looks-to-get-a-foothold-in-california

 

This article is about the future plans of California’s energy sources. Tom Kiernan, the CEO of the American Wind Energy Association, wants to start building wind turbines off the coast of California, but military considerations have to be brought into effect. Local and federal governments are working with the military to come to an agreement that could possibly install two sites for wind turbines off the California coast. But, offshore wind turbines are harder to install on the west coast rather than the east coast because the Pacific Ocean drops off and is much deeper than the Atlantic. In order to install these turbines, they would have to float on the surface with a rope that goes to the ocean floor to hold it in place.

This would be a major breakthrough for wind energy in the US because California often leads by example when new things are being tested. Offshore wind energy is already being used on the East Coast, but not at a large scale. I think that if California started to mainly use wind energy, the rest of the country would follow. This would be a major help to the reduction of CO2 emissions because we could slowly decrease the amount of fossil fuels we are burning. Instead, we could use wind energy which is a clean energy source.