response to antartic wind power

Before I read this article I did not know that wind power is used on Antarctica. It makes perfect sense because there is an abundance of wind on the continent. This article makes me wonder if turbines can be installed and be resourceful in such a remote place, then why cant they be put to use in more residential areas? I my isearch was going to be on bees, but there simply wasn't information less than two weeks old. Most of the articles were from summer '07. I thought about it, and decided wind energy would be a more current topic to choose.

Antartic Wind Power

This article reported that because of Antarctica's strong winds, many of the research stations there are run by wind turbines. The Australian station, Mawson has had wind turbines going since 2003. Belgium's research station is the first to be 100 percent wind and solar powered, by 9 small turbines. The New Zealand and American bases also use wind energy & solar energy. The energy is used for communication on Hub Island. New Zealand helped to create what they call 'the worlds coolest wind farm' on Ross Island. There are 3 German turbines, 128 feet tall and each generating 300 kilowatts.
The article also says that, though effective, harnessing the winds power on this continent is a challenge. During half the year, there is no sunlight. It is the changing levels of sunlit heat over land and water which creates wind. So during the winter, there is hardly any energy for the turbines to gather.
“I never considered myself to be a particularly green person,” Mr. Stone said, though he said his office pushes the maximum possible efficiency in the Antarctic operations. “The payoffs are so much more significant because of the extreme cost we have in logistics,’’ he said.