The Saudi Arabia of ‘Your Name Here’

If you aren’t the Saudi Arabia of something, you’re just not cutting it. Here’s a list of some of the claims for Saudi Arabia-hood from the alternative energy world.

The Saudi Arabia of Tidal Power: The Pentland Firth, separating Scotland from the Orkney Islands. It could provide up to 25 percent of Europe’s tidal power. But don’t include wave power in that. Both Scotland and Ireland claim to be the Saudi Arabia of wave.

The Saudi Arabia of Wind: The Great Plains states. Three of them—North Dakota, Kansas and Texas—could provide the bulk of the electrical needs of the U.S., claim advocates. North Dakota also holds claim to being the Saudi Arabia of compressed air storage.

The Saudi Arabia of Uranium: A tie! it’s either Western Australia or Cameco, a corporation with uranium holdings in Canada.

The Saudi Arabia of Algae: Western Australia again. you wouldn’t think there would be a huge contest on this, but an entrepreneur recently tried to convince me that the salty water, open desert and plentiful sun will make the lands beyond Perth the Saudi of scum.

The Saudi Arabia of Coal: The U.S. of course, followed by the other big land mass countries. The U.S. has the most, with 268 billion tons, followed by Russia (173 billion tons), China (126 billion tons) and India (102 billion tons). The four collectively hold 67 percent of the recoverable reserves.

The Saudi Arabia of Geothermal: Nevada. In turn, this make Reno the biggest little Riyadh in the world.

The Saudi Arabia of Solar Thermal: Australia for a third time. You can already hear presidential candidates denying that they’ve ever been to an Outback Steak House.

The Saudi Arabia of Hydrogen: The Columbia River in Oregon. And if you are in the mood, you can visit the state institution where they filmed “One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest.”

The Saudi Arabia of Biomass: Georgia. “That’s right. Home not only to peanuts, corn, pecans and cotton, but also pine trees and poultry farms,” say advocates.