But proponents of wind energy aren't just full of air, according to Assistant Secretary of the Interior Rebecca Watson.

Watson was in Flagstaff Wednesday to speak at the Southwest Renewable Energy Conference to let attendees know what the Department of the Interior was doing to develop renewable energy markets, especially in Arizona.

While statewide, renewable energy development efforts have focused mainly on solar, wind energy's potential has caught interest at the federal level. The Bureau of Land Management, which falls under the authority of the Interior Department, has granted permits near Kingman and Safford for wind rights of way.

The permits allow users to establish windmill farms on BLM land. The agency has approved four permits covering 60,000 acres so far, with two more in the approval process that will cover 42,000 acres.

"Wind is the much better story to tell," Watson said.

Improvements in wind-power technology have made the cost for this power to be competitive with those of natural gas and coal- generated power.

That's sweet news to Andy Kruse, vice president and co-founder of Southwest Windpower, based in Flagstaff.

The trick to renewable energy is developing systems that pay for themselves in five to seven years. Large and small wind systems are now paying that initial investment back in about seven years, Kruse says.

A typical wind system for a house now runs about $12,000, but Kruse says new technology just around the corner will drop that cost closer to $4,000.

Kruse points to California as one of the best states for developing wind power. He credits that state's buy-down programs as an aggressive way California is pushing that renewable energy market.

"Arizona is pretty decent, actually," he said. "Not as aggressive as it could be though," That may be because solar remains Arizona's hot renewable energy market.

"The (solar) technology is there and it's getting better," said Donald Garrett, of Danneypat Solar in Flagstaff.

A typical solar-power system for a home runs $16,000 to $18,000 and will take care of all electrical needs for a northern Arizona home without air conditioning, Garrett said.

But a homeowner can cut that cost nearly in half through a state tax credit and APS' EPS Credit Purchase program.

Biomass, which has been seen by many as northern Arizona's ticket into the renewable energy market, is a young but promising field, Watson says.

The problem with biomass, which converts small-diameter pines and lumber waste to electricity, is that transporting the forest materials to the plant is expensive, Watson said.

"I think we're at the beginning on biomass," she added.

She said transportation subsidies are part of the Bush administration's latest energy bill.

APS and Savannah Pacific are working together on plans for a three-megawatt biomass plant that would generate enough electricity to operate about 2,500 households per year. If it happens, the plant will be part of Savannah Pacific's proposed small-diameter tree sawmill in Bellemont, which would come online some time in 2006 or 2007.

The big plus of such a plant is that it would consume approximately 96 tons of fiber from the forests a day. This translates to about 2,300 acres of forest thinning annually. The Coconino National Forest has an estimated 170,000 acres within that urban-wildland interface -- where civilization borders forest -- that it hopes to treat during the next 15 years.