Scott has a general idea of the truth of it, but is lacking some of the economic ideas behind it, and providing some falsehoods as well. I will go into more when I have a real computer rather then Steve Jobs's piece of shit phone that wants to auto correct shit into shot. Fucking moral high ground. I would sorely wish to punch that man in the face, despite his marketing genius. I would also like to punch the fuckhead who made the ns mobile site, it sucks dick cheese through a straw.
Anywhoo, wind power is fickle, and can be very un-environmental, if set up incorrectly. Those turbines are expensive both to build and transport. These two processes have a significant sunk energy cost. There are few places where there is enough wind to make wind farming profitable. Wind farms also have an effect on bird migration ( I don't give two shits, with the exception of hunting, but the hippies care about that shit). It is also to think about the down wind effects of wind farms. To be effective the turbines need to take large quantities of energy from the wind (that's the whole point). When the wind looses this energy, it has less effect on the areas down wind. How does this change the temperature of those areas down wind? Wind both warms and cools areas to maintain equilibrium, it is the natural dispersion of heat. It is also interesting to think about the effects on smog down wind. I would be interested to see a chart measuring the carbon ppm in the air around Vantage both before and affter the wind farm went in around Ellensburg.
You want clean energy? Go nuclear.