We're getting wind of something big in the Midwest

We recently attended the annual meeting of the Iowa Wind Energy Association. The meeting was held at Iowa Lakes Community College in Estherville, which has grown to become one of the premier sites for training and certifying technical pros who install and service giant wind turbines. Those machines cost upwards of $2 million a piece. Right now, wind-generated power accounts for 1% of all energy generated in the U.S. by public and private utilities. That 1%, however, constitutes displacement of 29 millions tons of coal and 90 million barrels of oil a year. The federal goal is to generate 20% of our power through wind by 2030.

As you can see from the photo, these turbine units are much larger close up than they appear from the farm fields. That's Al Zeitz on the right, director of ILCC's wind program, standing in front of a decommissioned unit. That big thing behind Al is the "nacelle" of a wind turbine, the enclosure behind the blades that houses the gear box and electronics of the turbine. As you can see, it's about as big as a fuselage of a small jet. Here's an interview with Al from Daily Kos that provides a lot of cool insight into the wind picture.

AKC was at this gathering because we're highly interested and involved in leading edge technologies and innovations, whether they're new traits for seeds, new robotic technologies for dairy farms, or new human nutraceutical ingredients and products.