Technology Review - Wind Power Picks Up Currently, the U.S. generates about 0.1 percent of its power using wind—a minuscule contribution, especially compared to Denmark's 10 percent. The Department of Energy wants to increase wind's contribution to U.S. energy production to 5 percent by 2020.

The problem won't be one of raw supply. According to the National Renewable Energy Laboratory's National Wind Technology Center, North Dakota alone, sometimes called the Saudi Arabia of wind power, has enough wind to generate electricity for about one third of the continental U.S. "There's no shortage," says center director Robert Thresher.

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