One of the biggest criticisms against farms of wind turbines, which provide the kind of renewable energy that makes Mother Nature happy, is that the farms are unsightly. Don't think about that too long as it may depress you.

Luckily, companies such as the Netherlands's Blue H Technologies and Norway's SWAY are researching solutions that will place wind farms far offshore, where the winds are stronger and they won't spoil the view from the golf course. Denmark, Germany and other areas in European waters already have successful floating turbines, and their performance has generated local interest. If plans to bring the turbines to Massachusetts and other waters around the United States succeed, we could have 40,000 megawatts worth of energy by 2020, or enough to power roughly 30 million households.

Check out a video by Blue H about offshore wind energy converters.

Via Technology Review