During 1990s, wind was the fastest growing energy technology in the world, growing at an annual rate of 22.6 percent.

The Clinton administration, touting efficiency, national security and environmental concerns, announced the Wind Powering America initiative. The plan calls for wind power to meet at least 5 percent of the nation's electricity needs by 2020. To meet this goal, the federal government has allocated funds for a number of small wind turbine projects in 10 states.

On One Hand...

Wind energy is a clean, renewable energy source that does not create greenhouse gasses or other harmful emissions.

Wind power projects bring economic development in the form of jobs, tax revenues, and land-lease payments, particularly to rural areas. According to the U.S. Department of Energy, The Wind Powering America initiative would create 80,000 permanent jobs by the year 2020.

Wind power also reduces U.S. reliance on foreign fuel imports.

On the Other Hand...

Wind programs rely on unpredictable wind and weather patterns. Wind farms also spoil scenic areas and create noise pollution.

A recent survey found the greatest objection to wind power is the feeling that the various renewable energy sources simply cannot meet our energy needs.

Expenditures on unproven technologies like wind power waste taxpayer dollars.

• In 1931, the first propeller wind turbine was erected in the Crimea. In the 1940s, experimental twin-blade turbines were constructed in the United States and later in Scotland and France.

• A wind farm is a cluster of wind turbines (up to several hundred) erected in areas where there is a nearly steady, prevalent wind.

• In 1984, the total output of all U.S. wind farms exceeded 150 million kilowatt-hours; the entire output was fed into the electric utility network. This amounted to less than 0.00001 percent of the total electric power generated in the United States.
• The cost of electricity from wind is about $0.05 per kilowatt-hour. Even after a 85 percent drop in cost of wind power over the past 15 years and expanded federal tax incentives, wind power costs more than other sources which average $0.015 to $0.03 per kilowatt-hour.

• In 1999, wind energy powered the equivalent of 240,000 American homes.

• More than 15,000 wind turbines are now in operation in Hawaii and California.

• A single wind turbine brings in about $2,000 per year in lease payments to a landowner.

American Wind Energy Association, Encyclopedia Britannica, U.S. Dept. of Energy