Is The Sky The Limit For Wind Power?  Wind turbines at the San
Gorgonio Pass Wind Farm in Whitewater, Calif., in 2012. i i
hide captionWind turbines at the San Gorgonio Pass Wind Farm in
Whitewater, Calif., in 2012.  Bloomberg via Getty Images
Bloomberg via Getty Images  Wind power is growing faster than
ever — almost half of the new sources of electricity added to
the U.S. power grid last year were wind farms.  But is the sky
the limit? Several scientists now say it's actually possible to
have so many turbines that they start to lose power. They steal
each other's wind.  Sailboat captains experience a similar
phenomenon; they call it "dirty air." If you're sailing directly
downwind of another sailboat, you'll slow down. That's because
the lead boat creates a turbulent vortex of air behind it as the
wind spills off its sails. As sailors know, "dirty air" means
less power.  The blades on wind turbines make dirty air too, so
engineers space the machines far apart. But wind developers want
to bring the total