I was going to post this information on one of the four threads dealing with You Know. However, these are all getting quite long and are becoming tedious to cover, so I thought I would post this information here.
Recently, Maynard Fricke bought 45 acres in Kansas to grow corn. This amount of land was not enough to make a living, but could supplement his income. During a good year, he could net $50/acre - 2,250 on the property. An energy company came along and asked if they could put up three wind mills to generate electricity, and pay him $133 per acre. Now, he can collect another $45 an acre from the government for not growing corn. All of a sudden he is getting $8,900 for doing nothing, rather than $2,250 for growing corn. The three wind mills are part of a system of 170 units that supply enough electricity for 33,000 homes. The federal government subsidizes wind generated energy at the rate of 1.7 cents per kilowatt hour, yet this energy still costs slightly more than energy generated from fossil fuels. Nonetheless, voters in some states are willing to pay more for this renewable energy source.
Here are the stats in the U.S. regarding wind energy. Cost in 1980: 35 cents per killowatt hour. Cost in 2000: 5 cents. Amount generated in 1981: 10 megawatts. Amount in 2001: 4,500 megawatts. Turbine power of a wind mill in 1980: 100 killowatts, in 2001: 1.8 megawatts.
Yes, things are getting better, not worse in a number of ways.