But generating power from wind isn't profitable without government tax breaks, which in the past have been offered and taken away. The big proposed projects in Texas, like those elsewhere in the country, are dependent on regulators approving transmission lines to connect remote and windy regions to major power markets. If the new lines aren't built, the projects are doomed.

Energy companies investing in wind power are expecting governments to toughen rules relating to traditional energy sources, part of long-term efforts to reduce global-warming emissions and reliance on Middle East oil. As a result, they're hoping renewable energy will become a profitable niche, not merely one that allows them to burnish their green credentials.
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The wind doesn't always blow, and when it does, the amount of land required to catch meaningful amounts of it is vast. Shell's planned wind farm here would cover an area about five times the size of Manhattan, yet it would crank out, on average, only about as much electricity as a single coal-fired power plant. Even with subsidies, the return from wind projects tends to be lower than that from oil and gas.
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So far, wind power has taken off in states with favorable regulatory environments, in particular those with rules requiring utilities to generate a certain percentage of their electricity from renewable sources.
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Steve Westwell, head of the alternative-energy unit at BP, expects governments to toughen rules governing energy production, especially those relating to emissions of carbon dioxide, a gas linked to global warming. That will boost viability of alternative sources such as wind. "In the future, there will probably be a very different discussion of the economics of these technologies," he says. BP has announced plans to start building five wind farms in the U.S. this year.

What if a small group of world leaders were to conclude that the principal risk to the Earth comes from the actions of the rich countries? And if the world is to survive, those rich countries would have to sign an agreement reducing their impact on the environment. Will they do it? The group’s conclusion is “no.” The rich countries won’t do it. They won’t change. So, in order to save the planet, the group decides: Isn’t the only hope for the planet that the industrialized civilizations collapse? Isn’t it our responsibility to bring that about?