Actually… I’m not Don Quixote, I love the windmills. Aren’t they incredibly majestic? At the most southern tip of the most southern state in the United States (Hawaii, that is), there is a wind farm that will take your breath away. Pictures just don’t do it justice:
There is so much interesting information out there about wind mills, wind farms, and the wind corridor that it’s hard to assemble a cohesive story that does it all justice. Every time I turn around it seems that there is more information to synthesize. For example, e2: the economies of being environmentally conscious (the PBS series) had an early episode on wind farms, which was super interesting because it talked about community wind farming and how whole areas have come together (in certain parts of the US) to make long-term and community-driven investments in wind turbines.
A recent issue of the New Yorker also talked about a bit about wind turbines – and, more generally, about the advancement of all green technologies (including coal) – but with a focus on China and the R & D that has been done there to advance the ‘green’ energy cause. Part of the discussion revolved around which country, the US or China, will eventually win the green energy race. This includes the creation of cheaper turbines, using Chinese labor… but utilizing Western technology. It leaves the reader with a sense of hope, that China can use R & D that has been funded by the government together with advances that have been spearheaded in the West, to create goods (like wind turbines) that are now considered huge investments, and perhaps make them cheaper, more feasible on smaller scale, in the future (and perhaps, get them into the market faster).
This availability and somewhat constant updating of the wind technology would seem to dovetail with the goals of huge investors, even those as non-green as T. Boone Pickens. Some may remember when he was going around on different TV shows, touting a wind farm in Texas, even going on the Daily Show to talk about it… but unfortunately, back last summer 2009, he said that the project was on hold due to lack of financing. (Somewhat suspect… the man seems to have a lot of cash on his own… but even when he was on the Daily Show, it felt like he was considering wind farms more as an investment plan, which is fine… but his consideration of wind as a green alternative was, at most, only secondary).
In New York, we can even opt-in to wind energy from ConEd. This is only a 2.5 cent increase, per kilowatt-hour, for NYC residents.
So wind itself is a ubiquitous force, and it seems like the discussions of wind as an energy source are the same. I personally love the windmills and hope for efficient, not terribly expensive, wind farms and community wind groups to continue to grow in the future.
