Wind power is the most cost-competitive renewable energy technology today, with some utility scale wind farms producing energy at rates below fossil fuel power plants.  And if we consider the true costs of energy - including national defense costs, environmental damage costs, and the human cost of our fossil fuel use - wind energy and other forms of renewable energy are in fact much cheaper than fossil fuels.

We have considerable wind resources in the tri-counties region.  Northern Santa Barbara County alone has over 500 MW of wind power capacity. 500 MW of wind, at a 35% efficiency rating (meaning they may only generate their full capacity 35% of the time), would produce 1.53 billion kWh per year.  If the much larger offshore wind capacity is also utilized, the tri-counties region could conceivably become a net renewable electricity exporter.

Read more about wind energy in Chapter 5 of CEC's Regional Energy Blueprint.