[SampleMan]

Technologically, wind power is not economic except in some very special cases

There is nothing more constant than the sea breeze. In during the day, out at night. What proportion of the population lives withing 100 miles of a coast? In the U.S. I think it is around 80%.

[Gorjus]

There is nothing more constant than the sea breeze.

That's a start, and I'm not saying wind power has no potential. I'd like to see an honest set of numbers, including maintenance and depreciation. If the numbers are there - without subsidy - then fine. And the best way to see if that's true is - as my first post on this thread suggested - get rid of all the artificial constraints including things like not exploiting ANWR and let the marketplace demonstrate the right answer.

In addition, I've always favored government-sponsored research even though I don't support government subsidies of production facilities. Even if wind power is not competitive today, that doesn't mean it will never be competitive, and I think there is a compelling social interest in finding out.