Coal is too dirty. Uranium is too dangerous. Gas is too
expensive. Oil is too political. Solar is too sporadic. Hydro-
dams upset the fish habitat. Despite pressure to find new
sources of clean, renewable energy, wind power has stayed in the
background although it is gaining interest in a several areas of
the country. Wind produces electricity by turning the blades of
a turbine attached to a generator. A large wind tower can
produce up to 2.5 megawatts, enough power to supply more than
800 households. Modern turbine towers are taller than a 20-story
building, rising 400 feet. Studies by the California Energy
Commission, energy researchers and others put the average cost
of new wind power production 4.93 cents per kilowatt/hour,
compared with 5.18 cents per kWh for a natural gas generating
plant. This benefit, plus the “green” environmental attributes,
makes wind power more attractive to purchasing utilities. There
is, however, some opposition by environmentalists and NIMBYs
because wind towers ruin the aesthet