Business: Blowin’ in the Wind

 
The next day, I was driving south on Interstate 81 when I spotted the Locust Ridge Wind Farm off in the distance, its tall towers lined up like so many pinwheels, blades spinning languidly against the golden glow of dusk. Maybe I was getting a sneak peek at the future.
 
There may be a day when these ­fiberglass-and-steel behemoths aren’t sexy or cool, just commonplace and easy to overlook, like our ubiquitous electrical poles and wires are now. But I doubt it. When we were standing on the factory floor in the dusty air near that big wing, I asked Steiner what he thought of the look of an assembled turbine.
 
“I guess it’s in the eye of the beholder,” he said. “But to me, they’re art. There’s something beautiful about them — like modern sculpture.” And like art, some of them are even signed.