I'm always skeptical of oil company advertisements that try to portray its business as something other than an oil company. I've noticed that BP finally stopped saying "Beyond Petroleum." I guess we all knew that this just wasn't the case. So when I saw a Shell ad picturing a wind farm, I started rolling my eyes a bit again. Yet, upon reading the ad and looking at the information on Shell's website, I changed my attitude a bit. If a big oil company can promote wind power, then maybe other utilities will start jumping on this bandwagon. I'm well aware that these ads are basically PR, to distract the public from concerns about oil supplies, profits, oil spills, etc. Yet, the ad does show a lot of promise for wind power, which you can't help but be excited about. In the ad, the Emick family of Colorado is profiled. They were apparently on the verge of losing their cattle farm when they saw the opportunity to lease some of their land for wind power. There are now 98 wind turbines on their property. The turbines are owned by Colorado Green Wind Farm and operated by Shell and PPM Energy. The Emick family receives a return for the percentage of energy derived from the wind turbines, such that they can continue farming their land.

The project was an immediate boost for this area of Colorado, as 400 workers were needed to complete the project. The permanent workforce for the project has help increase the local tax base by 29%, which has led to new schools and better medical facilities in the region.

Regardless of Shell's motivations for being involved in this project, it is great to see farmers benefitting from wind power and demonstrating how they can lease their land in this manner to ensure more financial security for their farms. Hopefully, Shell will show continued commitment to these types of projects and other oil companies will diversify their energy production in this manner, as well.