Wednesday, July 10, 2013

USA:

Tour the USA’s Energy Infrastructure Through a New Interactive Map (blogs.smithsonianmag.com)

Part of the EIA Map showing the western US states
with geothermal power plants shown as circles
Every time you switch on a light, charge your electronics or heat your home in the winter, you’re relying upon a tremendous network of energy infrastructure that literally stretches across the country: power plants, pipelines, transmission wires and storage facilities.

It can be hard to visualize all this infrastructure and understand how it makes abundant energy available throughout the country. A map, though, can be a beautiful way of seeing a bigger picture—and a new map, released yesterday by the U.S. Energy Information Administration, combines a wide range of data (the locations of different types of power plants, electricity lines, natural gas pipelines, refineries, storage facilities and more) into an elegant, interactive interface that helps you understand how it all fits together. You can also zoom in on your own city or region to see the types of power plants generating electricity nearby.

Read More.....