I think the real opportunities for wind produced energy will not be from large scale wind farms except perhaps in really windy places within a reasonable distance of the customer. (For instance, I’m a fan of large wind turbine farms here on the Iron Range because they can serve big customers like the mines without the need for long distance transmission lines).
Instead, I think the real potential for wind is if everyone with more than an acre of land put up a home wind turbine to cut down the amount of electricity they buy off the grid. We’d still need a grid to fill in the gaps, but the total electricity needed would be reduced by vast amounts. Add in a mix of solar and geothermal and most rural residents could be putting power into the grid.
Here’s a home wind turbine unit from Skystream that costs $8,500 including installation and pays for itself in 4-12 years.
Natually, not everyone can afford this, but $8,500 is more like a car than a house, so we’re getting closer.
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