In order to get into the discussion of Florida wind power, the individual needs to understand the history and technology of wind power and wind energy. We will provide a bit of background and then attempt to explain why Florida wind power is falling behind many other states. Currently, Florida stands 47th among U.S. States in the production of commercial electric energy.

Wind power is the transforming of wind energy into a useful form, such as electrical energy, using wind generators. At the close of 2008, worldwide production by wind turbines was 120.8 gigawatts.

Throughout history the wind has been used to power sailing ships or transformed into mechanical power for pumping water or grinding grain, but the main use of wind power these days is the production of electrical energy. Huge wind turbine farms are typically attached to the local electric , with smaller turbines providing electric power to rural locations. Utility providers willingly buy back extra electrical energy generated by the lower capacity domestic wind generators. Wind energy as an energy source is the favorite among many environmentalists as a viable alternative to petroleum products, as it is everywhere, renewable, widely distributed, clean, and produces lower amounts of greenhouse gas emissions, even though the construction of wind generation farms is not always met with open arms due to their and possible effects on the environment. The inconsistency of wind doesn't create challenges when using wind power to provide a small proportion of actual demand. When wind is to be used for a moderate fraction of demand, additional costs for adjustments due to inconsistency are believed to be modest.

In recent years, the United States has added more wind generated capacity to its transmission network than any other country; U.S. wind energy production increased by 45% to 16.8 gigawatts in 2007 and surpassing Germany's production capacity in 2008. California has been one of the incubators of the new age wind power industry, and led the U.S. in wind energy production for quite some time; by the end of 2006, however, Texas became the leading wind power state and today continues to build its advantage. By the end of 2008, the state had 7,116 MW capacity installed, which would have ranked it sixth in the world if Texas were a separate country.

Unfortunately, the state of Florida has not kept pace with these impressive gains. The best resources in the industry agree that Florida wind power is not economically feasible due to the unstable wind conditions. Even the one site that is under construction is admittedly a political gambit and most experts agree that the best conditions available in Florida would not be considered as viable sites in any state that has wind farms. On the positive side, this does not mean that homeowners cannot incorporate wind generators into an overall plan to reduce their dependence on commercial electricity.

The total quantity of economically extractable potential energy available from the wind is considerably more than present human energy use from all sources. An estimated 72 terawatts of wind power on the Earth potentially can be commercially viable, compared to about 15 terawatts normal global power consumed from all sources in 2005. These figures are in spite of the fact that not all the potential energy of the wind flowing past any given point can be recovered.

It is important to mention that there are available do-it-yourself guides that allow almost anyone to build a quality wind generator with readily available components for a very inexpensive cost.