Wind

Would you be surprised to learn that General Electric is in the wind business? Here is what they have to say:

For over a century, our world has been powered primarily by carbon fuels. In recent years, concern about global warming and the harmful effects of fuel emissions has created new demand for clean and sustainable energy sources, like wind. In many areas around the globe, the energy market is also being driven by a dual new dynamic: deregulation and privatization. As more and more consumers choose who produces their power, the market for renewable resources is forecast to expand at an even greater pace.

Today, more than 31,000 megawatts of wind energy are installed throughout the world, and forecasts for wind power continue to be favorable with more than 83,000 cumulative megawatts predicted worldwide by 2007. With a cost of energy of approximately 3.5 to 4 cents per kilowatt hour and declining, wind is a low-cost renewable energy source that is less expensive than coal, oil, nuclear and most natural gas-fired generation, and is becoming attractive to utilities and electric cooperatives.

Siemens is also a player

Each area of the world offers one or more of the different forms of solar energy. North Dakota is known for its wind.

Here is what the sisters of the Sacred Heart Monastery have to say about wind power: "Our sisters ventured into wind energy for two basic reasons. Electrical costs from our utility company were going out of sight, and we had also made a commitment to rural life. We wanted to preserve our clean air and our land. We in North Dakota are blessed with the greatest potential for wind energy in the entire lower forty-eight states. If we fully developed it, we could supply 36% of the lower forty-eight states needs for electricity."

Rather than re-explain what is abundantly available elsewhere, let me suggest a Google search - Wind Energy Fact Sheet. You will see all the charts and graphs and learn about what is going on in the field. There is a lot of excitement.

This untapped potential is why analysts are so jazzed about the future of wind power. According to Christopher Flavin of the Worldwatch Institute, "Even excluding environmentally sensitive areas, the global wind energy potential is roughly five times current global electricity use." Flavin adds that wind turbines installed on just 0.6 percent of the land area of the 48 contiguous states — mainly in the Great Plains — could meet 20 percent of current U.S. power needs.