Mar 15 - McClatchy-Tribune Regional News - Joe Nelson San Bernardino County Sun, Calif.



When Gus Sansone decided to invest in a wind turbine for his home in 2001, he had no idea just how much money, and energy, he would be saving in the long run.

He said he paid about $36,000 to have the 80-foot-tall turbine installed, but with state and federal rebates, the cost came out to just over $16,000.

After six years, the turbine paid for itself, expedited by Southern California Edison rate increases and Sansone's switching over to an electric dryer and an electric baseboard heating system in his home.

As of Aug. 18, the turbine had produced 88,000 kilowatts of electrical power and contributed to a whopping $17,000 in savings in electrical costs, Sansone said.

 "I haven't paid anything in

electricity in 8 1/2 years," said Sansone, 61. "They say one person can't make a difference. I say we can."

He's not the only one. Many residents living in the hilly High Desert enclave nestled between the Cajon Summit and Hesperia have dished out the dough to have wind turbines installed on their properties.

They are among hundreds across San Bernardino County who have opted for renewable energy products to better the environment and their bank accounts. Development standards for wind energy systems were established in the county development code in 2002. Since that time, the county has issued 201 building permits for wind turbine systems.

But at a time when the state is encouraging consumers and municipalities to "go green" in order to meet its goal of having 33 percent renewable energy by 2020, the county recently imposed tighter regulations on wind energy systems.

"Instead of improving and moving forward, we're moving backward," said Joe Guasti, who has installed dozens of turbines on private properties across San Bernardino and Riverside counties. He owns Guasti Construction in Oak Hills.

In February, the Board of Supervisors approved changes to the county code in an effort to streamline the permitting process for renewable energy projects. The new mandates require the maximum height of wind turbines on private properties between 2 1/2 to 5 acres to be no more than 80 feet tall. The maximum height for wind turbines on property that is 5 acres or more is 100 feet.

Restricting the height of wind turbines reduces the amount of energy produced, Guasti said.

"Wind turbines work better higher off the ground because you get into a clearer air stream -- a stream of air that is not as turbulent," Guasti said.

Sansone doesn't understand why the county imposed the restrictions in the first place, believing they were unnecessary.

"The average citizen wouldn't know if the tower was at 80 feet or 100 feet. The average person can't look across the terrain and say, 'that's 100 feet"' Sansone said. "When I went from 60 to 80 feet, my (energy) production increased by 36 percent. Other people who took theirs from 80 feet to 100 jumped another 17 percent above that."

Wind energy reduces oil production usage, air pollution and greenhouse gases, he said.

Guasti said he has erected about 140 turbines in San Bernardino, Riverside, San Diego and Los Angeles counties. He's seen a slump in business as of late due to the soured economy, and he says the tighter regulations recently passed by the Board of Supervisors will only make it worse.

Supervisor Brad Mitzelfelt, whose district includes much of the High Desert including Oak Hills, declined to comment for this story.

The California Energy Commission offers generous rebates for small wind energy projects on private property through the state's Emerging Renewables Program. Property owners with wind-generating electrical systems that produce roughly 5 kilowatts of power or less are eligible for a $12,500 rebate, said Amy Morgan, a commission spokeswoman.

Under the California Solar Initiative, passed in 2007, property owners who opt to have their homes retrofitted with solar panels can also apply for rebates.

Under both the solar and wind programs, property owners apply for the rebates through their electric utility, Morgan said.

In 2004, wind projects in California generated 4,258 gigawatt-hours of electricity -- about 1.5 percent of the state's gross system power. That's enough electricity to serve a city the size of San Francisco, according to the California Wind Energy Association.

The association stresses on its Web site that with strong public policy, wind energy could realistically provide 20 percent of California's electricity supply by 2020.

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