This was an interesting article today about the utter impraticality of solar/wind/gerbal/squirrel power..
http://www.businessinsider.com/germanys-wind-power-chaos-2012-9
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The problem with wind energy is still the same as it always was, the energy is only produced when the wind blows and that is highest at night, when energy usage is lowest. In WA State the wind producers sued because the hydro power companies didn’t have the line capacity to add the wind energy to California at the time it was produced, so the tax payers in WA were forced to pay for added transmission lines to send power to CA.
Read about the Shepherd Flats Wind Farm in Oregon, that was built by GE, with just about 100% government subsidies and loans (like Solyndra).