Alternative Energy

ABILENE, TX - JUNE 9: Engineer Ryan Dela, 27 years, looks up the inside of a wind tower he will climb for a maintenance and commissioning check on the Lone Star Wind Farm on June 9, 2007, 17 miles north of Abilene, Texas. The Lone Star Wind Farm, into its second phase, is spread over 40,000 acres of ranch land with 7 landowners. The 400 megawatt project, owned by Horizon Wind Energy, uses 200 Spanish-built Gamesa 2 MW turbines set on top of 250 foot towers. The ranchers are compensated by a series of easement payments for underground cable collection, access roads, tower base areas, electricity substations and deer hunting restriction credits in areas under construction. Revenue per tower can range from $5,000 to $50,000 per month per tower depending on the variable wind strengths. Abilene and central West Texas is considered a major area for wind power making Texas the largest producer of wind power in the US. The power from the wind farm is connected into TXU's nearby overhead power lines. More than 20 states have requirements that utilities use some percentage of renewable power, and talk is increasing in Washington of enacting a federal standard for utilities and eventually some kind of carbon tax to penalize the use of fossil fuels that produce global warming gases. (Photo by Robert Nickelsberg/Getty Images)