U.S. offshore areas hold enormous potential for wind energy development near the nation’s highest areas of electricity demand – coastal metropolitan centers, Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar said.

“More than three-fourths of the nation’s electricity demand comes from coastal states and the wind potential off the coasts of the lower 48 states actually exceeds our entire U.S. electricity demand,” Salazar told a group working to lower America’s carbon emissions.

by Zach Hagadone via idahobusiness.net

Bob Lewandowski may have been among Idaho’s greatest do-it-yourselfers. As a farmer on 20 acres between Boise and Mountain Home he saw his seeds blown from the ground by a seemingly constant wind. Finally, after years of kicking and scratching at the soil, he realized if he couldn’t raise a crop from the earth, then maybe he could harvest something from the sky: electricity.

Betting the farm on wind power, Lewandowski invested a total of more than $120,000 to purchase, ship and refurbish three old turbines from California. Inventing his own performance-boosting repairs, he labored for about three years before hoisting the first 150-foot tower himself.