Wind power cheaper than fuel in the US

DR COLMÁN ETCHINGHAM (Irish Examiner letters, December 4) thinks I did not adequately address the question of wind energy in terms of efficiency or future potential (Irish Examiner letters, November 24).

Since 2004, the price of wind-generated power in the US has been lower than that generated by fuel, even without taking reduced carbon dioxide emissions and pollution into account. In 2005, wind energy cost one-fifth of what it did in the late 1990s and that downward trend is expected to continue (US Earth Policy Institute, March 2006).

Dr Etchingham finds it curious that I would state communities across Ireland actually welcome the development of wind energy. Perhaps he believes too much in his own propaganda and that of the Irish Wind Energy Truth Alliance?