Windfall: Wind Energy in America Today

Currently the world’s fastest-growing source of energy, wind generation offers hope for a partial solution to our energy problems by converting nature’s energy into electricity without exposing our planet and its inhabitants to the dangers of heat, pollution, toxicity, or depletion of irreplaceable natural resources. Windfall tells the story of wind energy’s extraordinary growth in the past decade and examines the arguments both for and against its use.Historian Robert W. Righter explains how wind is transformed into energy and examines the land-use decisions that affect the establishment of new wind farms. The book also discusses the role of tax credits and other government subsidies in the creation of transmission systems between the turbines and the urban end users.The spread of wind farms has also given rise to backlash. A critical advocate of wind energy, Righter addresses the cultural dimensions of resistance to wind generation and makes considered predictions about the directions the technology may take. His sympathetic treatment of opposing arguments regarding landscape change, unwanted noise, bird deaths, and human medical implications are thought-provoking, as is his recommendation that we place the lion’s share of turbines on the Great Plains.Righter’s book does not shy away from scientific explanations, but it is no technical manual. His broad, historically informed vision will appeal to policy makers at the federal, state, and local levels and to anyone interested in a technology increasingly significant to supplying America’s energy needs.Robert W. Righter is Research Professor of History at Southern Methodist University and the author of Wind Energy in America: A History and The Battle over Hetch Hetchy: America’s Most Controversial Dam and the Birth of Modern Environmentalism.