Wind turbines are low impact. The tubular towers for large turbines are often only 12 feet in diameter at the base. Lattice towers have a slightly larger footprint but still take up a small space on a farmer's land. Together with access roads, a typical wind farm removes less than four percent of the land from agricultural production while roughly doubling the income from the farm area to the landowner who leases the space for the turbines. Row crops and livestock grazing can continue right up to the base of the turbine.
Wind electricity is the fastest growing energy sector in the world, expanding at double-digit rates.
Several European countries have wind energy in excess of ten percent of their energy portfolio. Some areas have as much as 30 percent of their energy from wind. But the US has excellent wind resources, especially in the Midwest. Iowa has sufficient wind resources to provide five percent of the nation's electricity requirement. Iowa is said to have sufficient wind resources to power five percent of the entire nation.