Similar surveys in Corpus Christi and Beaumont, TX generally echo these results. The analysis presented in this paper demonstrates the crucial importance of group solutions to social problems. For instance, policy makers might apply a systems benefit charge of the type adopted in California and other states as they restructure their electric systems. Given that the environmental and economic benefits of wind development accrue on a broad regional basis, this assumption of evenly distributed costs seems reasonable. If, on the other hand, the costs were borne only by altruistic families that cared enough about the environment to pay a premium to protect it, for example through a voluntary green pricing program of the type increasingly contemplated by utilities and regulators, the per-family costs would soar.
Talk is cheap, but so is windpower.
Everyone benefits if everyone does their part.