Dorothy Brush "Random Thoughts" Published Nov. 13 2002

Is the answer blowing in the wind?

Have you seen those small replicas of the windmill used as a lawn ornament? For anyone familiar with those water pumpers from the past, just seeing this miniature version sparks a memory of the sound they made when the wind activated them. It was in Europe in the 1500s that farmers figured out how to use the wind to make their work lighter. The Dutch had so many windmills we still equate Holland with the picturesque structures.

Time marched on and windmills were used across our expanding United States. They served a good purpose during the 1800s and early 1900s but they went out of fashion when electricity became available. That period ended when energy sources started drying up, and it seemed any solution put forward to produce more energy brought arguments for and against, often resulting in deadlock.

Those working to find answers began to turn to nature and alternative renewable energy entered our language. The sun, water and wind produce great energy, if they could be harnessed. Even in President Abraham Lincoln's time, it was being considered. Lincoln said, "Of all the forces of nature I should think the wind contains the greatest amount of power." New generations also believed that to be true and during the 1990s wind energy became the world's fastest growing energy source.

Two years ago, wind power came to Tennessee when the TVA erected three 200-foot-tall wind turbines on Buffalo Mountain at Oliver Springs. The cost was $3.4 million. They supply about 60 percent of the power for customers who volunteer to pay extra for this renewable energy source called the Green Power Switch program. Now TVA is hoping to enlarge their wind farm with 16 to 22 more of these wind turbines.

Not corn or wheat farms but wind farms are sprouting nationwide. The American Wind Energy Association predicts that if wind farms are built on less than 1 percent of American land, they could produce 20 percent of our electricity.

These wind farms have been a lifeline for many traditional farmers struggling to hold on. They are paid well for leasing their land to wind farm developers. Neither farmers or developers will say how much money is involved but experts say it could be more than $4,000 per wind turbine per year.

This new money source is not without uncertainty long-term. Recognizing that farmers need advice, a non-profit group , WinDustry, was organized to inform farmers about their rights and the ins and outs when dealing with developers.

Yes, the wind is free but there are some other factors to consider. Wind is unpredictable. Even when the wind turbines are turning well the power they generate must be carried by transmission lines to far-away conventional power plants. Installing these super-high-voltage lines is costly and they cannot even be started before government permission is given. That can take as long as seven years.

Thus far wind developers have been encouraged in their efforts because they receive a federal tax credit. There is always a question of that help being renewed regularly and without that subsidy wind developers would be hard hit. There is also a concern about birds and bats meeting their death from the rotating blades.

Other people find the towering turbines unsightly and that unleashes the "not in my backyard" protests. Recently when the residents in the Cape Cod area learned that the nation's first off-shore wind farm was planned the howls began. Along the shores of Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket are many impressive mansions including the Kennedy home. This powerful group of residents have filed a suit to stop the construction.

The future of wind power remains as unpredictable as the wind.

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Dorothy Copus Brush is a Fairfield Glade resident and Crossville Chronicle staffwriter whose column is published each Wednesday.