To put this in better perspective, I wrote this letter mostly in response to the Forest Service review, of the South Hills wind towers:

http://www.magicvalley.com/articles/2009/05/08/news/minicassia/161347.txt

In addition, it will be refreshing to see windmill “bird diverters” and other equally resourceful devices featured more in our local media.

Recently, our first energy secretary James Schlesinger, along with Robert L Hirsh wrote an informative article called “Getting Real on Wind and Solar”:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/04/23/AR2009042303809.html

In this article, these specialists remind us what a powerfully complex issue that energy is.

They point out “Some serious realism in energy planning is needed, preferably from analysts who are not backing one horse or another.” At another point, they mention, “At locations without such hydroelectric dams, which is most places, solar and wind electricity systems must be backed up 100 percent by other forms of generation to ensure against blackouts. In today's world, that backup power can only come from fossil fuels.”

Yet; albeit starting small; our next generation of Tesla’s has already developed wind / solar powered street lights that only need charged once every four days and without the use of fossil fuels:

http://cleantechnica.com/2009/05/13/exploiting-the-downsides-of-wind-and-solar/