As windmills spread, some Germans balk at 'asparagus fields'

They call him the Don Quixote of the Uckermark.

But unlike the Spanish literary figure, Hans-Joachim Mengel, a professor of political science at Berlin's Free University, isn't attacking imaginary "giants" in the Iberian hinterland. Rather, he is taking aim at the 400-foot windmills that blanket the German countryside.

Mr. Mengel is not alone. Hundreds of citizens' groups have sprung up in Germany to battle "Verspargelung der Landschaft" - a new phrase in the German lexicon - meaning "the transformation of the German landscape into an asparagus field."

While an overwhelming majority of Germans supports wind power as a step away from atomic and coal-generated electricity, a growing number of critics are railing against noise and visual pollution, inefficiency, and costliness. They say wind power does little to reduce carbon dioxide emissions while lowering property values near wind parks.

Aggravation is particularly high in the Uckermark - where Mengel is from - along the Baltic Sea coast. The northern German region boasts the largest concentration of wind farms in the country. Mengel, an activist turned local politician, ran in local elections there with his "Save the Uckermark" party, solely on an antiwindmill platform. The party came in second place, trailing only the Christian Democratic Union.

"The destruction of the landscape needs to be entered in on the cost side of any cost-benefit analysis of wind power," says Mengel. "The landscape here in the Uckermark is an economic asset - and when that is destroyed, the region's economy will also be destroyed."

There has been a dramatic increase in the number of windmills installed throughout the country since the Renewable Energy Act was passed in 2000. The law, which requires energy companies to buy all energy produced by windmills at a price fixed higher than the going rate, essentially guarantees profits for wind energy investors. The law also boosts Germany's goal of being the world leader in "green" energy production.

The results can be seen from the hills of the Black Forest in the south to the beaches of the Baltic Sea in the north. Germany is now home to over 16,000 windmills and produces 39 percent of all global wind power - more than all other European Union countries combined - according to government statistics.

The boom in wind energy is not limited to Germany. Denmark now covers 27 percent of its energy needs through wind power, higher than any other country in the world, although it is now scaling back subsidies for wind energy because they are deemed too costly. The US has doubled the amount of energy produced through wind power since 2000, using a similar fixed price system as Germany. In Cape Cod, Massachusetts, controversial plans that would make the coastal region home to the world's second-largest offshore wind park are being discussed.

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