Actually, I was just reading on that. A single wind turbine nets $3,000 a year for the property holder who allows it on his property. The statistics that held true for even as recent as ten years ago don't hold true now, due to advances over the last ten years in turbine technology (There's a piece on it in this month's Mother Earth News).

As for being an eyesore, while folks out in La-La land wouldn't like it, there are plenty of areas in the top o' Texas that are viable and won't be an eyesore for anyone but a few cattle...There's actually a wind farm about 30 miles from us...this is where I'm going for research.

Guess you do not live on Nantucket where they think the windmill farms are an eyesore as well!

and one grasshopper is worth a thousand fans.  Think about that.

I am not actually sure on that one. I haven't seen migratory birds near the turbines, so I'd guess they probably design them to make noise at proper frequencies to frighten the birds. But it IS viable (the Mother Earth News article mentioned that wind turbines produce electricity at 4 cents per kilowatt hour, and some long term contracts have been signed at three cents per kilowatt hour), and, in our case, at least, there is a wind farm near enough to make reasonable projections if we were to have one sited near us.

dr guy,

You are correct. I live in the Texas panhandle, which is identified as one of the best areas for wind farming.