Tuesday, June 02, 2009
No matter how much some conservatives despise left-wing environmentalists, it is still possible for the two sides to find common ground where commerce and renewable energy meet. Such is the case in the Texas panhandle, a hardscrabble stretch of earth where the wind never stops blowing across open fields that support cattle ranching.
There, giant wind-driven turbines have sprouted up as ranchers embrace the benefit of additional income generated by wind power they can sell to local utilities. Power companies are on board as well, and are planning to build the necessary power lines to carry the wind-produced energy to major metropolitan centers like Dallas-Fort Worth and Houston.
Texas utilities are hoping to produce at least 50% of the electricity needed by cities through wind power. However, the central United States, stretching from Texas to Canada, is capable of producing enough wind power to meet all of the country’s electrical needs, and more, according to the American Wind Energy Association. The challenge is getting Midwestern states to invest in “wind farms” in sufficient quantities, and figuring out ways to transport the electricity all the way to the coastal regions where the majority of the U.S. population resides.
-Noel Brinkerhoff
Ranchers Driving Wind Revolution (by Roger Harrabin, BBC News)
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