Conwy, some people are clammoring for solar or wind, but the smarter ones are saying a combination of several technologies. Like Pickens is saying, put up a string of wind farms through the center of the US in western Kansas, eastern Colorado, etc... from the Canadian to the Mexican border. Don't know if you've been out in that part of the country, but there aren't many (ANY!) trees out there to begin with, just hundreds of miles of open fields. And, the best thing, is you can put them up in the middle of wheat or cornfields (or whatever) and still farm around them. And, solar is even becoming more advanced than that picture you showed, with new thin-film technologies making the size and efficiency of the panels much better. And, of course, this can be augmented by some of the stuff like flexible solar panels that can be roof mounted in the place of shingles, and feed back into the grid. Then, we also have hyrdo power, and should bring new nuke plants on line, and geo-thermal, with each technology being utilized where it makes the most efficient system. Currently, all of the utilities are interconnected, and buy and sell electricity to each other through the grid. That's why Florida Power and Light could build a solar plant in Arizona or New Mexico (last I'd heard, they didn't use eminent domain to take over a strip of land from Florida to Arizona-heehee). So, put stuff where it makes sense, and feed it all into the grid, and buy and trade so that everyone benefits. And, I would have to agree, that some of the more extreme enviros need to be pretty much pushed aside to make way for progress, but at the same time, safety and the environment have to be taken seriously.
