my learnings begin - energy resources GIS

In one of my coffee discussions with an office mate who just started working at the FHS two days ago, he indicated that he was working on renewable energy systems for cities in Austria.  So, I inquired into the GIS systems that are prevalent over here and how they can help assess available and potential local energy resources.  He showed me by typing in 'tiris maps' into google search, which showed a topographic map of Austria.  Selecting from a large menu, I asked to see what the biomass resources were... as in forests.  Turns out that 40% of Austria is covered in forests and they have a 250 year sustainability plan for them... so I was curious what the reality of this was on the ground, and how they were protecting this valuable resource.  I was overwhelmed with a lot of bureaucratic talk and a general love of trees and that 100% of all parts of a tree are harvested only at the right time and pattern.  Over the years, I've seldom seen ANY kind of smoke from fire burnings or slash piles that we commonly have in California forests.
----------------------------------------------------

Here's some links to the Austrian GIS system.  Unfortunately, when you select 'english' in the upper right corner a lot of the maps and details are unavailable - only accessible in german.

map info:  https://portal.tirol.gv.at/mapAccelWeb/ClientServlet?CMD=Init&VIEWID=-139&MAPWIDTH=807&MAPHEIGHT=569&OVMAPWIDTH=200&OVMAPHEIGHT=122&ACTION=0&TYPE=-1

If you click on the 'umschutzwelt' (environmental)  in the lower right screen you'll get all kinds of information about recylcing centers, air quality, etc.  Use your cursor to enlarge any area on the map for incredible local details including the final google earth map of 'reality' on the ground.

Now where is this similar GIS available in the public domain in the USA?

If you want to see some of the forestry details:
   http://www.tirol.gv.at/themen/umwelt/wald/

 --------------------------------------------------------------------
 Counting bullshit?

The project applications for renewable energy resources in developing a community microgrid are pretty obvious.  One can assess all the natural resources, biomass plants, farms, waterways, etc within a 5km area.  I asked if one can count the amount of 'cowshit' (as in # of cows available for biogas/methane production) and they said this was a privacy issue for the farmers, and that information was not available.

---------------------------------------------
Personal note:  I spend the last couple days translating a detailed german project work scope document (9 pages) into working english (as opposed to the queen's english) and I found that google translator was about 30% accurate at best.  My own reading of the sense of the german sentence, and my knowledge of facility + real estate management along with the technical energy systems verbage, proved invaluable.

So, although I am learning SO much from everyone here, I think I'm also returning a little bit a value myself.