One of the most distinctive symbols in the iconography of clean, sustainable energy is the spire and blades of a wind turbine, glistening in the sunlight amid rolling hills, tranquil farmland or over the deep blue of the open ocean.

These mammoth towers are statements in the paradigm shift taking place on the topic of energy. They produce no emissions, no residue or chemical waste, none of the traditional environmental concerns lamented by the green movement. Their massive arms work in harmony with nature, spinning by the power of the wind. They represent a technology that has been around for decades, but only in the last few years have wind turbines and a collective interest in harnessing wind power for energy seen significant growth.

The amount of wind energy being generated for the United States in 1985 was 1,000 megawatts. It didn't reach 2,000 MW until 1999, according to the U.S. Department of Energy. The department reports U.S. installed wind capacity grew to 26,274 MW as of January 2009.

'Mainstream option'

Wind energy development had a record year in 2008 with the installation of 8,500 MW of generating capacity, representing about 42 percent of all new energy generation power for the year, said Christine Real de Azua, spokeswoman for the American Wind Energy Association.

"It's clearly now a mainstream option for new electricity generation, clearly a new option for which we can meet our electricity demand," she said.

Wind farms now exist in 35 states, de Azua said, with Texas leading the pack. Illinois ranks 16th in the potential for wind resources, she added.

Development of wind farms is expensive, but not in excess of what it costs to build a coal or nuclear power plant. The average cost per megawatt installed for a wind turbine is $1.5 million, de Azua said. One MW of wind power can generate electricity for about 300 homes, and since the standard turbine can produce more than a megawatt, it can typically supply enough energy for 500 homes, she said.

"The advantage with wind is once your turbines are up and running, there is no cost of fuel. That is what allows wind to be in a cost-competitive range with other energy resources on the market," de Azua said.

A 2008 report from the U.S. energy department on wind energy suggests wind power could provide 20 percent of the country's electricity needs by 2030 and outlines procedures in policy, development and infrastructure that would help reach the goal.

T. Boone Pickens, a Texas businessman who made his wealth in the oil industry, has become one of the nation's most unlikely but most outspoken advocates for the proliferation of wind energy.

In 2008, Pickens unveiled a plan that promotes the creation of 3.4 million jobs over 10 years in the production and installation of components for wind farms. His plan also calls for an overhaul of the national electrical grid system for the transmission of wind power, incentives for businesses and homeowners to become more energy efficient, and using domestic natural gas over imported oil to power vehicles.

Utopian?

These kinds of utopian energy plans aren't all they are cracked up to be, says Lisa Linowes, executive director of the Industrial Wind Action Group, an organization that opposes mass construction of wind farms. The idea wind can adequately replace coal and nuclear power in generating electricity is a bill of goods being sold by an industry hiding behind the symbolism of wind turbines as green energy, according to her group's line of thought.

"We can't build our economy on wind and solar. You can't build the wind turbines on wind and solar," Linowes said.

A software designer by trade, Linowes began speaking out against massive wind farms when one was proposed for her New Hampshire community and she couldn't get her concerns about environmental impact and human toll answered. Most importantly, she asks, what kind of return on energy production are people getting for the investment in wind?

"The situation is we're spending a tremendous amount of energy to build any of these power plants," she said. "When you look at all the forms of energy generation out there in renewables - biofuels, solar power, hydroelectric - wind ends up being the least able to meet our generation needs. At best we can predict the wind 15 percent of the time."

Linowes says the Obama administration's energy policy appears to be targeting as much farmland as possible for developing wind energy, particularly in Illinois. There are 13,448 MW of energy generation planned to be produced across 74 wind projects in the state, she said, adding most if not all of the power appears to be headed to the east coast.

In fact, much of the Midwest might be turned into a sprawling wind power sector, supplying electricity to both coasts over 19,000 miles of new transmission lines, Linowes said.

Wind energy isn't zero impact, de Azua admits, noting no energy source is. With wind farms, the obvious effect is visual.

"They are big; you will see the wind turbines you are putting up, so it will change the landscape," de Azua said.

However, she said, wind energy represents one of the lowest emissions over the life cycle of the turbines from production to decommission.

Linowes contends wind power has no expectation of carrying a capacity of energy, meaning it will rarely, if ever, generate more energy than what is needed. She doesn't discount wind power as an energy resource completely, however.

"There are places in this country that have no real access to electricity, and wind would be suitable for the kind of remote village use," Linowes said. "It's when we start talking about the grand scale of things. Does wind make sense? That's when it starts to fall apart."