Editorial: Gentle breeze offers solution to energy scare

Published: Friday, November 7, 2003

Most Americans are familiar with the term "energy crisis." And with dreams of cold fusion - a theoretical nuclear energy source that creates no hazardous byproducts - quickly being swept away by practical reason, many conservationists are demanding an increase in renewable energy, as the technology to reap the benefits of renewable resources currently exists.

The United States, like many other nations, is heavily dependent on fossil fuels, coal and nuclear reactors to produce electricity. France produces nearly 80 percent of its energy through nuclear fission. Unfortunately, nuclear fission reactors yield nuclear waste.

Fossil fuel consumption, like nuclear energy, is far from perfect. With concerns that natural gas will run low in the future, the United States and other environmentally conscientious countries are working toward developing new ways of creating and harnessing energy.

Ideally, more modern energy endeavors will reduce the number of pollutants being released into the environment, minimize the devastation of natural topography and present fewer health hazards for consumers.

Given that two major oil tankers transporting crude oil and petroleum products have spilled contaminants into the world's oceans in the past 15 years, killing and injuring an uncountable number of marine plants and animals, it's a relief to see that PNM - Albuquerque's energy provider - is now offering its customers the option to use a renewable energy resource: wind.

Wind energy costs more than traditional energy production because of wind's unpredictable nature. Because harnessing wind cannot be controlled in the same way that pushing a button to start a nuclear reactor can, it's natural that it should cost extra. But the average amount of increase in the consumer's bill will be inconsequential compared to the long-term benefits.

According to the American Wind Energy Association, the United States is currently equipped with enough wind turbines to produce 20 percent of the nation's energy. The sooner Americans opt to pay a little extra for wind energy, the sooner U.S. reliance on purchasing oil from other countries and gutting the countryside for coal can come to a halt.

After all, a $10 a month increase in your power bill pales in comparison to smogless skies, pristine countrysides and tumor-free children who don't worry about the neighborhood nuclear smokestack turning Chernobyl.

The answer, my friend, is blowing in the wind.