Wind Power

Saints be praised, the Ghostly Voice of the Globe-Republican has said something I agree with, two days in a row, no less (links here and here). Just like Ghostly Voice, I, too, have an interest in the proposed wind farm to be built west of Amarillo. I think it's a bit shameful that we don't have more wind farms around here already, but hopefully that will change greatly in the near future. Personally, I'd rather see the AEDC putting their efforts into more projects like these rather than Bell Textron. Tax payers would be better served by alternative energy rather than the over-priced military hardware we're financing right now. Why just build wind farms? Why not get some component manufactures here as well? If we can build helicopters, we can build wind turbines.

If there is a downside to this project, it's that Xcel Energy is stepping in to buy up the electricity the farm will produce, meaning we consumers are still stuck with one provider. I've always felt that one of the advantages to having these new producers would be actual competition that would wrest control away from Xcel and their monopoly. I have to admit ingorance to the legal ramifications of a provider coming in that might actually compete with Xcel, but surely it is possible? It may be a matter we as individuals have to take into our own hands.

A few years ago, when Enron and friends (major Bush supporters) were busy raping the Grandma Millies of California (and we were getting a good gouging from Atmos) I looked into outfitting my house with solar power. It was going to cost between $15k - $20k to buy enough equipment to run the house as is and it would have taken about 15 - 20 years to get that money back in the form of electrical savings. I couldn't afford that by a long shot. I haven't looked into solar prices lately, so I don't know if the prices have come down since then.

That's the really frustrating thing about alternative energy. It costs a lot upfront, usually more than the average Joe can shell out. Given the fact that we live in Texas in general and the Panhandle in particular we shouldn't be expecting any incentives from our hypercapitalist, corporate whore politicians. It's only a matter of time, though. Eventually the prices will come down to something we can afford and when they do, I'll be the first in line to take a small step toward energy independence.