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Rock Port Missouri recently became the first city to be powered by wind energy. Wind power plants on a nearby bluff produce an estimated 16 million kilowatt hours. The city's 1,400 residents consume an average of 13 million kilowatt hours. The excess energy is sent out to neighboring towns. Since wind is unstable, the city sometimes has to pull energy from other parts of the grid to power itself.

While this city may be small and not entirely reliant on wind power, it still represents a huge step forward in the use of wind as an alternate energy source. How plausible do you think wind energy is as a future energy source? What are the benefits and drawbacks that may shape its future? 

It seems like there are several good possibilities for alternative renewable energy: wind (as you mentioned), solar, water/tide, thermal. I wish all of these were being developed to replace our dependence on foreign oil (non-renewable). We are designing better methods for storing energy and we have the ability to share energy between places with excesses and places with deficits. We need to start developing these now before the oil runs out or the Middle Eastern countries wind up owning everything.

I rarely hear mention of tidal energy but it's a relatively untapped source of incredible power. The ocean moves vast amounts of water in and out of bays and inlets every single day. The power behind this motion is incredible. I used to live at Shell Point and the bay there turns into a slow moving river each night as the tide goes out. It's strong enough to overpower most people who try to swim against it. If we were to further focus the water, we could have a hydroelectric generator running at high speeds. It's much the same principle as a hydroelectric dam, only it doesn't require a massive river and expensive dam.