Wind Power
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Hi I'm Bryan Yeaton and this is the Weather Notebook.

Using the wind to supply electricity seems like a good solution to our current energy woes It's available, renewable, non-polluting and becoming very cheap. But it has yet to get its name in lights.

From her perch in the rural state of Vermont, commentator Peg Devlyn explains how change may, in fact, be in the air.

Sometimes a great idea is as close as the wind against your face.

That's how I felt when I learned about the farmers who are turning over some of their acres for harvesting the wind instead of corn, or wheat, or cabbages.

They're planting impressive two hundred foot tall wind turbines on parcels as small as an eighth of an acre and they're paid just to let the wind blow . They collect about $2,000 a year for a "green crop" that is just as natural as grass.

An acre of these wind turbines can generate enough energy to power 2,000 homes that's enough power for more than three average sized Vermont towns! And here's the beauty of it -- your lights go on without releasing those nasty greenhouse gases of fossil fuels associated with global climate change And, at prices that can be cheaper than those for natural gas.

A farmer just can't beat that with an eggplant!

Someday I hope I can buy electricity from a company with a name like Windy Hill Farm or Breezy Ridge Electric. Or even look out my window and see my own wind turbine turning in the breeze to keep to keep my computer running.

That's writer Peg Devlyn of Colchester, Vermont. For more on wind, check out our website at weather notebook.org. The Weather Notebook is a production of the Mount Washington Observatory and supported by Subaru.