Wind is the solution to our power needs right? You decide.

In Florida, Governor Charlie Crist signed an Executive Order in July of 2007 capping carbon emissions. Since signing the order five coal fired power plant projects have been canceled. The five plants which were to come online by 2014 would have produced approximately 4,150 MW of electricity.

Some people believe that wind power is the solution for our future energy needs. So let's look at what it roughly takes to produce 4,150 MW of wind power to replace the current power deficit.

The Horse Hollow Wind Energy Center in Texas remains the largest wind farm in the world with a total capacity of 735 megawatts (MW) spread across approximately 47,000 acres in Taylor and Nolan counties near Abilene in west central Texas. The wind plant consists of 291 1.5-MW wind turbines from General Electric and 130 2.3-MW wind turbines from Siemens.

Let's say that we use the bigger 2.3 MW wind turbines (which are 370+ feet tall) from Siemens to meet our current power deficit. That means we would need 1,805 wind turbines. We know from the Horse Hollow Wind Energy Center that they needed 47,000 acres for their 421 wind turbines. So we in Florida would need 4.29 times the acres of the Texas wind farm or approximately 201,508 acres.

So there you have it. We need to immediately get the property rights to 201,508 acres of land so that we can begin the process of meeting our current electricity needs in Florida.

Oh, by the way, Texas is trying to build a larger wind farm on 66,000 acres of land and the environmentalists are going crazy because wind turbines kill migrating birds. Of course Florida environmentalists will not complain about killing birds because if we don't stop human caused global warming now all the birds are dead anyway - right?

OK. So who wants this wind farm in their back yard?

Wait! I have a better idea, let's put the wind turbines in the Gulf of Mexico, like they did in Massachusetts ! We won't need any land, right? So much for the pristine view of the gulf. Of course the upside is we will get rid of the seagulls when they fly into the wind turbines.

Wait! What happens when the wind doesn't blow? Not my problem. I am buying a home generator!