Backyard Wind

In 1981, wind turbines in America generated a paltry 10 megawatts. Now, a quarter-century later, the figure is approaching 12,000 megawatts -- enough energy to power up to 12 million homes.

Granted, wind still accounts for less than one percent of the country's total energy consumption, but even President Bush this week allowed that wind turbines could one day supply 20 percent of America's electricity.

While California leads the states in total wind power generation, the Midwest is catching up, with many agricultural communities seeing wind as a promising new revenue stream. USA Today reports that many Midwestern states are passing laws and ordinances to encourage the burgeoning industry. According the paper:

-- Minnesota passed a law last year that encourages new windmills by cutting red tape and offsetting some construction costs.

-- Michigan's public service commission changed its policies last year to allow consumers to sell excess electricity from windmills back to utilities.

-- North Dakota last year reduced application fees and made it easier to get permission to build windmills.

And, in Mason City, Iowa, home to a plant that turns soybeans into biodiesel, the city council unanimously passed an ordinance that not only allows wind turbines to be sited in commercial and industrial areas, but also residential ones -- that is, in people's backyards.

It's a development that both signals the future and harks back to the old days before rural electrification programs, when most farms and homesteads in the area would have had windmills to pump water and grind grain.