Wind and the Environment Wind power plants use no fuel and, therefore, produce no emissions. They do not use water and their operation does not require handling or disposing of harmful or toxic materials. Land use is not excessive as it is for most other types of power plants. While estimates are that a Megawatt of electricity requires 2.5 acres, most of that land can be used for other things while the electricity is being generated. Agricultural activities are affected very little by the presence of wind turbines.
Wind energy is one of the most competitive of the alternative energy sources.
For the most part, wind generated electricity is still more expensive than coal generated electricity, but the gap is narrowing. Still it is not likely that wind energy is going to become our dominant source of electricity in the US, but it could help reduce the load on our utilities who will try and meet our ever increasing consumption. As wind gets more competitive in price and more available to the power grid, utilities will rely more and more on wind to generate electricity. It is now 1998. There are a number of private companies working on wind energy research and selling turbines and other related wind generating equipment.