“It is novel for Kentucky to be experimenting in wind power,” said James Bush, program manager at the Governor’s Office of Energy Policy. Bush pointed to a map by the Department of Energy that classifies the strength of wind power, on a scale of 1 to 7, across different states and regions within the United States. The study classified most of Kentucky as a 1, meaning it had little to no wind power. Southeastern Kentucky received a 2, and a thin area bordering Virginia (along the Allegheny Front) fared better with a 3. The overall DOE assessment indicated that Kentucky would be a poor place to set up wind farms, and no further government studies on its wind power were conducted, Bush said. Sykes has narrowed his search to a handful of counties in Eastern Kentucky that fall along the Class 3 area. The top five states for wind energy are North Dakota, Texas, Kansas, South Dakota and Montana, respectively, according to the American Wind Energy Association.

WASHINGTON - Thanks to the high prices of oil and natural gas, the electricity industry is turning back to coal, America's oldest and most abundant fossil fuel, to drive a new generation of power plants. The upshot is that even as politicians take the threat of global warming more seriously, the problem may get much worse. Utilities are proposing to build 154 coal-fired power plants in the next 25 years, according to "Coal's Resurgence in Electric Power Generation," a recent Department of Energy report. Most of those new plants would use conventional coal-burning technology, which would increase carbon dioxide emissions from U.S. coal plants by more than 50 percent by 2030, according to the Energy Information Administration, the analytic division of the Energy Department. A traditional coal plant produces three to four times more CO2 -- a potent "greenhouse gas" that traps the sun's heat and helps raise the Earth's temperature -- than comes from a modern plant that uses natural gas as its fuel.

Appalachian states have the potential to compete in the global energy market and should seek alternative sources of energy beyond conventional coal production, regional leaders said Thursday. Kentucky Gov. Ernie Fletcher and other members of the federal Appalachian Regional Commission released a report detailing how the area could increase energy efficiency and the use of renewable energy resources, including biomass, and develop conventional energy resources, such as clean coal. “Energy is quickly becoming one of the biggest issues facing the country today,” said Fletcher, who is also the state’s co-chair of the ARC. “It is important for Kentucky and the other ARC states to develop a solid plan of action in order to capitalize on our natural resources and provide high-quality job opportunities for our citizens.”

The union sees construction and upkeep of wind turbines, solar panels and hydrogen fuel cells as drivers for new jobs, even though the alternative energy industry now provides a small portion of unionized electricians.