Wind energy prices pass key milestone

There is one really good thing about rising gas prices....people are finally realizing that alternative and renewable energy sources are the way to go. While I'm definitely not some crazy environmentalist, I would like to see more money put into renewable energy such as wind, wave, biofuels, etc.

Wind energy demand has apparently been booming since prices for this renewable energy source recently became cheaper than natural gas. Certainly natural gas is not the cheapest source of energy, but this is a milestone none the less.

"In Colorado, Xcel Energy is the state’s largest electricity supplier. Xcel’s 33,000 Windsource customers, who until late 2005 were paying $6 more each month for their electricity, are now paying slightly less than those using conventional electricity, which comes mostly from natural gas and coal. To meet fast-growing demand, Xcel is currently soliciting proposals from wind developers for up to 775 megawatts of new wind power generation, enough to supply 232,000 Colorado homes with electricity."

Here's another novel idea, ranchers leasing land to power companies to make some additional profit: "With a large, advanced-design wind turbine generating easily $100,000 worth of electricity per year, even a 3-percent royalty would earn ranchers $3,000 a year from leasing a quarter-acre of ranchland. And they can still run cattle on the land. If the proposed project is approved as expected, these 30 or so ranchers will have an average of seven turbines each, yielding roughly $21,000 a year in additional income. A decade from now, there may be thousands of ranchers who will be earning more selling electricity than they do selling cattle."



Just as a side note, about a year ago, I saw one of the blades to a wind generator on the back of a truck driving down I-70. They are HUGE!

Tags: Wind, LA, Gas Prices, Colorado