Science Daily has a good article about tapping into a decade of NASA data to pinpoint where in the ocean the best sources of ocean wind energy lie which could be used for wind farm placement. According to Liu, new technology has made floating wind farms in the open ocean possible. A number of wind farms are already in operation worldwide. Ocean wind farms have less environmental impact than onshore wind farms, whose noise tends to disturb sensitive wildlife in their immediate area. Also, winds are generally stronger over the ocean than on land because there is less friction over water to slow the winds down – there are no hills or mountains to block the wind’s path.
