Wind Power Is Becoming a Better Bargain

[truthpusher]

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/02/13/national/13wind.html?ex=1108875600&en=a5b2e01ad221f602&ei=5099&partner=TOPIXNEWS


Rick Scibelli Jr. for The New York Times
The New Mexico Wind Energy Center, in House, N.M., is one of the largest in the country.

Wind Power Is Becoming a Better Bargain
By MATTHEW L. WALD

Published: February 13, 2005

OUSE, N.M., Feb. 10 - With every turn of the giant blades of the 136 windmills here on the edge of a mesa, the stiff desert breeze is replacing expensive natural gas or other fuel that would have been burned in a power plant somewhere else.

Wind energy makes up a small fraction of electric generation in this country, but the rising price of natural gas has made wind look like a bargain; in some cases, it is cheaper to build a wind turbine and let existing natural gas generators stand idle. Giant, modern wind farms like the New Mexico Wind Energy Center here may become more common if prices continue to rise.

The center, 150 miles east of Albuquerque, opened in the summer of 2003 and is one of the largest in the country. The power is bought by the state's largest utility, Public Service of New Mexico, and provides about 4 percent of that company's electricity over the course of a year. In March, when demand is low and winds are usually strong, the project generates 10 percent of the electricity the company supplies. The state has established a goal of using 10 percent renewable energy by 2011. The governor, Bill Richardson, a former secretary of energy, has said that New Mexico could become "the Saudi Arabia of renewables."

more:
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/02/13/national/13wind.html?ex=1108875600&en=a5b2e01ad221f602&ei=5099&partner=TOPIXNEWS

[truthisfreedom]

1. i love that phrase. i hope it makes the oil profiteers irritated as hell.

i hope they lose sleep.

[earthboundmisfit]

2. Our Native American tribes should all start wind farms - somehow right

for everyone + the Earth, and I think they would be the PERFECT ones to steward this, and right that they profit from it (of course we ALL profit from clean, renewable energy).

[koopie57]

3. Imagine if we could harvest

all of the blow hards in Washington and finally use their hot air for some good!

[patricia92243]

5. Hysterically funny! I love it!!

[applegrove]

4. Wouldn't that be beautiful? If we all went with wind power and those

big oil world shit disturbers had to suck eggs?

[lawladyprof]

6. Why can't you build off-shore wind "farms"?

Far enough out not to be visible but close enough to shore to pick up the constant winds. I am not at all knowledgeable in this area and would welcome learning about off-shore wind "harvesting," if it is even a viable solution.