Dropped by the LA Convention Center yesterday for WindPower 2007, a 5-day conference on wind power that’s brought out anything and everything wind energy related.

As you can imagine, the floor had lots and lots of wind turbines — from full-scale to teeny models to little plastic fan thingies –

GE was there big time, as was bp — with strangely similar booths.

A lot of companies had huge, impressive exhibits. Wind’s got money!

But wind is also free.

I realized that wind energy actually means not just people making turbines, but a whole diversity of different businesses — from ones that just transport stuff, to ones that do safety testings, to ones that make cranes to lift things, etc.

Here’s a machine that helps people climb — The better to install your wind turbines with –

And of course the conference brought out the offsetters, the marketing companies (learn to tell your “wind story!”), and — yes — the lawyers.

The LA Times reports the wind energy peeps want “wind farms to supply 20% of the nation’s energy — a huge leap from today’s contribution of less than 1%” by 2030. Randall Swisher, executive director of the American Wind Energy Assn., is quoted saying “It’s not a forecast, but it is a plausible scenario.”

Somewhat relatedly, the LA DWP is planning to raise rates “to pay for conservation programs, replacement of aging equipment and training for field workers to take the place of retirees.”

One interesting part of the plan: “Power rates additionally would be restructured under the proposal to encourage conservation: Those who use the most power would pay the highest rates.”

It’s a good time to build your own wind turbine and install solar panels –

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