Scientists Daniel Barrie and Daniel Kirk-Davidoff of the University of Maryland have told Discover News that they have conducted experiments on the affects the 300 foot turbines would have on the wind. Considering the conservation of energy, moving the turbines (to create electricity) would result in a drop of wind speed by about 5-7 mph. More importantly, the resulting winds would ripple through the atmosphere downstream and impact weather systems in a way not fully understood yet. Rather than get into the physics of what could happen in may different scenarios, wind sheer of any sort in the central plains is not a good thing. Think tornadoes!

Computer giant Dell Inc. said this summer that it has become "carbon neutral," the latest step in its quest to be "the greenest technology company on the planet." What that means, and what it doesn't, may surprise Dell customers and other consumers who have been bombarded with bold environmental promises from major corporations. ...The amount of emissions Dell has committed to neutralize is known in the environmental industry as the company's "carbon footprint." But there is no universally accepted standard for what a footprint should include, and so every company calculates its differently.

Hearings have been scheduled for February on a proposal to build an 87-turbine wind farm, mostly in Minonk Township in eastern Woodford County. Navitas Energy, a Minneapolis-based wind energy developer, has filed an application for a special-use permit with Woodford County zoning officials. The public hearings are scheduled for 6 p.m. on Feb. 9, 10 and 11 at Fieldcrest South Elementary School in Minonk.

This time of year, wind turbine blades ice up, biodiesel congeals in tanks and solar panels produce less power because there is not as much sun. ...As concern has grown about global warming, many utilities and homeowners have been trying to shrink their emissions of carbon dioxide - their carbon footprints - by installing solar panels, wind turbines and even generators powered by tides or rivers. But for the moment, at least, the planet is still cold enough to deal nasty winter blows to some of this green machinery.

The discussion in Hanover Park over wind turbines is generating more hot air. The village board next month is to consider joining a group of area school districts and communities who are supporting the construction of power-generating wind turbines to reduce electricity consumption. Hanover Park Trustee William Manton has asked for the item to appear on the Jan. 15 agenda. But Village President Rodney Craig, who's been a big proponent of wind energy, nonetheless is calling Manton's move a political ploy.

The Coast Guard report, which is not yet released, reportedly considers the 130-turbine project in Nantucket Sound "doable" but some in the audience found the simulated radar scenarios more than a tad confusing as they tried to pick out the boats from the false echoes and turbine blades. ...There are short periods of time when the vessels are subsumed into the turbines," Rugger concluded. "Inside the wind farm there are a lot of secondary reflections, and often times it's hard to pick out the vessels from that."

The financial crisis is causing problems for First Wind, one of the backers of Deepwater Wind, the firm chosen by Gov. Donald L. Carcieri to build Rhode Island's offshore wind farm. ...First Wind declined to comment, but in its public filing the company warned: "If we are unable to obtain additional debt or equity financing, we may have to curtail our development activities or be forced to sell assets."

The dozen people suing Livingston County over the Cayuga Ridge wind farm want to either consolidate their suit for both the northern and southern parts of the project or stay the County Board's approval for the southern part. In a motion filed Friday in Livingston County Circuit Court, People Protecting Cayuga Ridge contend that the northern and southern parts of the Wind Energy Conversion System (WECS) that Iberdrola Renewables plans to build are a single project. A hearing on the motion is set for Feb. 25.

To make use of this clean [renewable] energy, we'll need more transmission lines that can transport power from one region to another and connect energy-­hungry cities with the remote areas where much of our renewable power is likely to be generated. We'll also need far smarter controls throughout the distribution system--technologies that can store extra electricity from wind farms in the batteries of plug-in hybrid cars, for example, or remotely turn power-hungry appliances on and off as the energy supply rises and falls. If these grid upgrades don't happen, new renewable-power projects could be stalled, because they would place unacceptable stresses on existing electrical systems.

In a letter to U.S. Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthome dated Thursday, the congressman [Rahall D-WV] requests that the federal Minerals Management Service delay issuing its final environmental impact statement "until the U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) has provided the public 60 days to review and comment on a third-party review of the radar study submitted by the Cape Wind project developers."

Doyle is paid just over $35,000 a month for the seven wind turbines in his soybean and corn fields. Those turbines and thousands others across the Midwest the past few years were part of an unprecedented build-out for the wind-power industry. That expansion is now drastically slowing as financing dries up ...Companies that bankrolled much of the boom -- the insurer AIG, now-bankrupt financial service company Lehman Brothers and Wachovia Corp. -- are among the meltdown's biggest losers.

Waters off the Northeast coast are called by some the Saudi Arabia of wind for their potential in providing massive amounts of energy to the region. Yet even talk of placing huge turbines in shallow waters off scenic shores can raise an enormous public outcry. Behind the scenes in the U.S. and in Europe, the race is on to build the world's first deep-water wind farms ..."I think it's important when we think about this that we keep in mind this is a long-term perspective," Johannessen said. "We're talking about 10 years-plus, or 20 years maybe, before the technology is available on commercial terms."

Bill Durdan has farmed northeast of Grand Ridge for 43 years and often relied on crop dusters. Now, however, he has been told his proximity to wind turbine towers will prevent him from receiving that service. The cost to him could be lost crops and lost revenue, he told the La Salle County Zoning Board of Appeals Tuesday evening. ...Kim Schertz of Hudson, who works in her husband's crop dusting business, said the problem is pilots simply can not safely pull up and make the necessary turns in a wind farm area. "These guys are good, but they're not kamikazes."

The La Salle County Zoning Board of Appeals voted 3-2 to recommend issuing a special use permit for a wind farm in the far southeast corner of the county. The final permit is scheduled to be considered for County Board approval in February. Officials from Horizon Wind Energy, which is owned by the Portuguese utility company Energias de Portugal Renovaveis, S.A., outlined plans for the Top Crop wind farm, which is to be built in La Salle, Grundy and Livingston counties.

"The development of renewable energy resources will require a significant expansion of the grid, as well as a significant increase in needed operating reserves given the intermittent nature of wind and other resources." PJM has 90,000 megawatts of new generation waiting for approval to feed into the grid, with nearly half that power coming from wind.

Navitas, the Minneapolis-based wind energy company that recently received the green light for a wind farm near El Paso, has officially proposed another installation for the Minonk area. The 87-turbine project as proposed would generate 200 megawatts of electricity annually - enough to power 60,000 homes - and cross county borders, with 65 turbines in Woodford County and 22 in neighboring Livingston County.

The political winds are right for making wind power in Iowa. The problem is getting that power to the big cities that can use it. ...Proposals to give FERC more say over power transmission lines have foundered in Congress before, and the commission itself isn't united behind Kelliher's idea. Under current law, the commission can promote investment in new transmission lines for wind farms by awarding developers a higher rate of return. That allows utilities to charge more for the power. But it's still up to the states to decide whether to allow the lines to be built.

Behind the scenes in the U.S. and in Europe, the race is on to build the world's first deep-water wind farms, ones that would operate on floating platforms in waters hundreds of feet deep, like oil rigs found in the North Sea and the Gulf of Mexico. There are gargantuan technical hurdles ...

After inserting the topic of wind farm applications into the agenda for Friday's special session of the Woodford County Board earlier in the week, board member Tom Evans withdrew the issue from consideration without explanation when the meeting convened. ...Evans had said he wanted to discuss a possible procedural change to the way wind turbine special-use permit applications are handled but didn't expect the board to make any decisions Friday.

The University of Illinois has canceled its plans to build wind turbines on campus, citing the university's "deteriorating fiscal condition." A contract for GE to build and deliver a 1.5-megawatt wind turbine for the South Farms was sent last week to the university from GE, but university officials did not sign it. Chancellor Richard Herman on Thursday notified GE and student leaders of the university's decision to halt the project.