Residential Wind Power Getting Some Positive Buzz

It seems residential wind power is finally getting some positive buzz after receiving mostly negative press in recent months. This week, both The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal have published articles casting small wind in a very positive light.

In the article: Homespun Electricity, From the Wind, published yesterday (December 13, 2007) in The New York Times, writer Kristina Shevory profiles a number of success stories. One explains how Rena Wilson Jones and her husband took advantage of the high winds blowing through their property near Urbana, Illinois by erecting a 56-foot wind turbine.

It was spinning by early September, and their electricity bills dropped sharply, from $90 to $10 for November, one of the windier months.

The article also goes into some detail about the growth of the industry in recent years and the reasons for it before touching on some of the hurdles that have yet to be overcome.

In The Wall Street Journal, a day earlier (December 12, 2007)), there was a front page story titled A Young Tinkerer Builds a Windmill, Electrifying a Nation.

This is the story of William Kamkwamba and it is truly inspirational. William is becoming a bit of an international celebrity for the ingenuity and determination he has shown while building three windmills to generate electricity for his home and village in Malawi. To see the impact wind power can and is having in some poorer parts of the world, check out William's blog and his interview that started his rise from obscurity. This is an amazing young man.

UPDATE: On April 15, 2008, another Wind Power (Residential) Update appeared in The New York Times.

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