YOUR EXACTLY RIGHT FRANK EXCEPT THE COMPANIES WILL  BE AND ARE BIG OIL. ALTERNATE SOURCES OF ENERGY WERE SUPPOSED TO BE COMING ON LINE....BUT IT SEEMS THAT THEIR IS A RESTRICTION IN GROWTH IN THIS INDUSTRY. WHY IS THIS YOU MIGHT ASK.....WELL ITS BIG BUSINESS....MORE SPECIFICALLY BIG OIL. BIG OIL HAS ALWAYS MADE A KILLING ON OIL AS AN ENERGY SOURCE. BIG OIL IS SLOWING DOWN THE DEVELOPMENTS IN ALTERNATIVE SOURCES OF ENERGY. THEY WILL PROBABLY DO THIS UNTIL THEY HAVE MAJOR CONTROL ON THE NEW ALTERNATIVE ENERGY RESOURCES. THIS HAPPENS I'M SORRY TO SAY BECAUSE OF OUR GOVERNMENT AND THE OIL LOBBYIST AND OUR INDIVIDUAL ADDICTION TO OIL AS ENERGY. COAL IS AN OTHER THING ALTOGETHER.....BASICALLY ITS A DIRTY FORM OF ENERGY. NATURAL GAS IS AN OTHER ALTERNATIVE.....BUT ITS OWNED BY BIG OIL. SO MANY OF THE NEW TECHNOLOGIES IN THE ENERGY FIELD THAT MAY OR MAY NOT HAVE PATIENTS GET BOUGHT UP BY BIG OIL LONG BEFORE THE INFORMATION ON THE TECHNOLOGY REACHES US. IN MOST CASES THE INFORMATION WILL NEVER ARRIVE. THE BUSINESSES THAT ARE IN ALTERNATIVE SOURCES OF ENERGY AND ARE NOT HOOKED UP TO BIG OIL FAIL TO GET FEDERAL OR PRIVATE LOANS FOR DEVELOPMENT  OR RESEARCH. BECAUSE OF THIS THEY START TO FAIL AND BECOME EASY BUY OUTS BY BIG OIL OR THEIR SUBSIDIARIES AND THEN THEY JUST SIT ON IT BIDING THEIR TIME OR THEY MAY GO ON TO DEVELOP THE TECHNOLOGY PRIVATELY AND NEVER RELEASE IT. SOME DAY THE WORLD WILL RUN OUT OF OIL. IN THE LAST DAYS OF OIL THE PRICES WILL GO THROUGH THE ROOF FURTHER EMPOWERING BIG OIL AND THEIR CONTROL NOT ONLY ON GOVERNMENTS BUT THE LIVES OF ALL PEOPLE AROUND THE WORLD. AT THIS JUNCTURE BIG OIL WILL BRING ON LINE THE NEW TECHNOLOGIES THAT THEY HAVE BOUGHT THROUGH THEIR MISDEEDS AND HAVE PATIENTS ON....AND THIS WILL COST PEOPLE AROUND THE WORLD DEARLY . ITS THE OLD SHELL (NO PUN INTENDED) GAME. WE HAD ONE BIG WIND GENERATOR(PRIVATELY OWNED) HERE IN HAINES, BUT THE PEOPLE WHO LIVED NEXT DOOR COMPLAINED ABOUT THE NOISE AND THE ENVIRONMENTALIST SAID THAT IT WOULD BE A HAZARD TO OUR BIRDS....MOST NOTICEABLY OUR EAGLES...WE HAVE THE WORLDS LARGEST POPULATION....3-4 THOUSAND ARRIVE IN WINTER TO FEED ON OUR FISH. THE PEOPLE WHO OWNED IT WERE QUITE WEALTHY....THEY BOUGHT IT SOME YEARS AGO WHEN THE TECHNOLOGY WAS NEW. IN YOUR AREA WITH LAKE MEAD DRYING UP BECAUSE OF THE LACK OF RAIN, BOLDER (HOVER) DAM WILL HAVE A HARD TIME KEEPING UP WITH THE ENERGY NEEDS OF THAT REGION. WATER IN THAT AREA AND ALL THE WAY TO CALIFORNIA IS BECOMING LIKE GOLD. ALTERNATIVE ENERGY SOURCES ARE NEEDED NOW. IT COULD BE THAT THEY WILL BE DEVELOPED IN AREAS THAT TRULY NEED IT FIRST....BUT THIS REMAINS TO BE SEEN. THIS IS WHAT I SAY BECAUSE I GOT INTERESTED IN ALTERNATIVE ENERGY SOURCES WHEN I WAS BECOMING A 2ND. STRING ARCHITECT. PHIL 

I can't even afford solar heat for my horses water tanks much less my home!!!  I look at the big ranches and farms that can afford to heat all of their stock tanks and wonder how they can do it.  You are right, it's very spendy!  Mabey all those farmers with lots of land who have allowed all of those ugly wind mills to be put there can afford wind power.  I heard that they get thousands a year for one wind mill... I know when I drive from Montana to MN. I see alot of them on Hwy 90, some people have 10-12 of them on their place.  I guess if you could deal with the eye sore, and I hear that they make some noise as well, you'd get quite a bit of money but I don't think I'd want a bunch of them on my land...