Talk of a looming recession and sky-high oil prices don’t seem to worry many Texans. Instead, they’re cashing in on the benefits of an alternative energy source, wind, literally.

Many Texans are happily trading defunct oil rigs for wind turbine installations on their land. One Texan is being paid $500 a month for each turbine he allows to be erected on his property. He currently has 78, with plans for 76 more.

According to an article in The New York Times on February 23, Move Over, Oil, There’s Money in Texas Wind, there are up to 4.5 million homes in America powered by wind. The top two states in wind-power production are Texas, with 4,356 megawatts, and California, with 2,439 megawatts produced in 2007. That might sound like a lot, but actually only about 1 percent of America’s electricity is wind generated. Industry experts predict it will top out at 5 to 7 percent. Some European countries, however, derive up to 20 percent of their electric power from wind turbines. It is European companies that are most actively developing wind power in the United States.

Wind generates electricity without the undesirable greenhouse gas emissions, and it is making many Texans wealthy. Is there a down side? Yes. It is still more expensive to produce wind-generated electricity than electricity from fossil fuels. The turbines are 20-stories high with blades as long as a football field. Wind-generated electricity is unreliable: no wind, no electricity. Wind is most abundant where the energy produced is least needed, necessitating transmission–something not fully available at this point. There are also aesthetic and

The news article is accompanied by a slide show and a graphic representation of the leading states in wind-energy production.

How to Turn This News Event into an Inquiry-Based, Standards-Related Science Lesson

From the National Science Education Standards, the motions and forces subtopic of the Physical Science Content Standard can be linked to this topic of energy. In addition, portions of the Science in Personal and Social Perspectives content standard are also related, such as populations, resources, and environments, and science and technology in society. Ask students what our primary source of energy is. Is that sustainable? What are some alternative sources? Once they identify wind, ask them: How does a wind turbine work? What are the pros and cons of wind-generated electricity? If you lived in Texas, how would you feel about wind farms? Why?

Share the news story with the students. Have any students changed their mind regarding how they feel about wind farms? Can they say why?

Here are some additional resources from the National Science Digital Library Middle School Portal related to issues of alternative energy, wind power, and science in personal and social perspectives: Wind Energy: Energy from Moving Air; Wind; Technology and the Environment: Alternative Energy; and the American Wind Energy Association Homepage.

We Need Your Help

We want and need your ideas, suggestions, and observations. What would you like to know more about? What questions have your students asked? Do you have a favorite activity that you would like to share? We invite you to share with us and other readers by posting your comments. Please check back each week for our newest post or download the RSS feed for this blog. You can also request email notification when new content is posted (see right navigation bar).

Let us know what you think and tell us how we can serve you better. We want your feedback on all of the NSDL Middle School Portal science publications. Email us at msp@msteacher.org.