Some have said wind power is unreliable and not economical. To the naysayers it is nothing but an impractical hippie pipe dream. Nothing could be further from the truth, however.

Iowa”s limited wind generators — only 354 according to the American Wind Energy Association — already produce 3 percent of the energy needs of the entire state. This is enough to power more than 66,000 homes — and that figure is growing exponentially.

In addition, it is estimated that we have the wind resources to produce four times the energy needs of Iowa by wind alone. By powering the state”s electricity needs by wind, Iowa could change its role as an energy importer, to a profitable energy exporter — and the advantages do not stop there.

At present, 87 percent of the state”s energy needs are met by coal. One hundred percent of the coal is imported from out-of-state sources, and this cost Iowans $310 million in 1995.

Powerful fossil fuel interests ensure that coal and gas prices are kept artificially inexpensive by our tax dollars; making wind power too expensive, in comparison, to compete in a lopsided market. It is a cycle of subsidies that rewards people who lobby politicians but leaves the free market out of the equation.

It is not only economically infeasible to rely on imported coal, — it is also disastrous to our environment. The few wind generators that we have displace 1.3 billion pounds of greenhouse gases per year, which is the equivalent of taking 175,000 cars off the road.

Bernard Gerstein, professor at Iowa State, has said that Iowa”s coal-burning habit produces 765 pounds of arsenic, 5 pounds of mercury and 45 pounds of uranium waste every single day. No nuclear power plant generates this much toxic waste.

Therefore, why are we paying taxes to dump tons of toxic waste into our air, land and water supplies at an economic loss, when we could be harvesting a clean, renewable energy resource?

Iowans live in a state with abundant wind-energy resources and should not pay subsidies on pollutant fossil fuels for energy.

The 2002 Libertarian candidate for governor of Iowa, Clyde Cleveland, had a plan — as present Iowa Libertarians do — of using the free market to convert Iowa from dependence on fossil fuels and foreign oil to energy independence.

His plan was to use concepts, such as reverse metering, that reward communities that set up wind generators by paying them back for the excess energy they produce.

The wind generators in place already pay farmers $2,000 per year and take a half acre of land out of production.

Far from being impractical, the concepts espoused by Libertarians and environmentalists have been put into profitable practice.

According to the article ‘Catch the Wind’ on Agriculture.com, farmers such as the Tjaden family stated at an Introduction to Wind Energy and Energy Crops conference for farmers at the University of Northern Iowa in March 2005 that the privately owned turbine they erected could pay for itself in about 6 years, ‘and still have several years of useful life of producing income for the farm’ to the tune of about $20,000 or more a year in gross income. Farmers like the Tjadens are quickly realizing that they have a cash crop of energy blowing over their farms nearly every day.

As fossil fuel reserves dwindle, global carbon dioxide levels rise, and oil prices skyrocket, Iowans have an important choice: We can choose higher taxes for imported, pollutant coal to meet our energy needs or we can seek out innovative solutions to the problems — solutions that most politicians have chosen to ignore for the sake of campaign cash.

The choice seems rather simple to me, and other people, who want a clean environment with less intrusive government. The free market paves the way.