As Americans struggle with today's economic hardships, some ruralcommunities are looking to wind power as a way forward. In the centralstate of Oklahoma, known for its frequent tornadoes, wind is now seenas a positive force by scientists, businesses and universities.
Thesame wind that sometimes wreaks havoc is now spinning 100-meter-tallturbines that dot highways and rural landscapes, providing wind energyto city power plants.
Each turbine costs about $2 million tobuild and install. Developers are also paying landowners $4,000 to$6,000 per year for leases to put a turbine on their land.
Inreturn, landowners are being asked to collect data from each turbine toperfect the technology, as scientist Angie Albers explains.
"Theymeasure the wind's rotation that then goes down to a data logger, whichis similar to this, and then this records the data," she says. "Then weget data chips in the mail from the landowners. They pull out the chipsand then send them to us and we process the data."
Albers,who is project coordinator for the government-funded , sees wind as a new economic boom which can help saverural communities where turbines are located.
"I do foresee itas a boom that is happening now and will for many years to come. Ithink that it can have the chance to help struggling communities keeptheir hospitals and their schools and their community going andpossibly even bring people back into their communities."
TheOklahoma-based company has been making turbines forresidential use since the administration of President Jimmy Carter inthe late 1970s.
Now President Barack Obama is extending newsubsidies and tax breaks to make wind power more affordable, andbusiness is booming again. Sales representative Scott Merrick feels heis in the right industry at the right time.
"I am attracted tosmall wind turbines because it is fun," Merrick says. "There is almosta bit of a cowboy-esque type feel to going out and climbing up a120-foot [about 36 meters], tower and there is an independence, almosta fronteerism, but on a green fronteerism."
The is paying a premium to a state electricityprovider to ensure that its campus power plant will be 100-percentwind-powered by 2013.
Plant director Bill Henwood says it is nice for a change to work on the good side of wind's potential.
"Anybodywho lives in Tornado Alley - Oklahoma, Texas, Kansas, Missouri - youexperience tornadoes on one level or another, and in 2003 we had theopportunity to experience up close and personal, as we lost my house.Thankfully, my wife and son were next-door in a shelter.
"So wehave experienced the negative aspects of wind on the Central Plains aswell as the positive as we are experiencing with the wind powerinitiative."
University associate vice president Byron Burr Millsap says the university can become a model for America's greener future.
"Ithink we are pretty much well agreed that we need to be more and moreintense and focused on finding renewable sources of energy and lessdependent on foreign oil and outside sources of energy. I think we arevery focused on that, and I think we are very focused on making the aircleaner for us to breathe and preserving resources so that our childrenand your children enjoy the same resources that we do today."
Despitedetractors who say wind turbines are not economical and consistentenough for large scale use, there are plenty of Oklahomans ready to seemore of these turbines dotting their highways and flat landscapes andeager to lead the trend toward an ever-larger percentage of U.S.electricity coming from the power of the wind.