Clean energy, visual pollution

I don't know much about energy policy, nor have I spent my waning brain cell power trying to understand whether 'clean energy' is truly clean. I want to believe it. My family pays a premium to get clean energy through PGE's Green Source program. Wind energy sounds about as clean as they come, and I've always bought into this type of bucolic scene that wind energy proponents like to toss around:

via windrevolution.com

Seems so peaceful. Tranquil.

A couple of months ago during a first-time visit to Palm Springs, my husband and I drove through a wind farm.

Truly one of the eeriest things we've ever seen, like we were on another planet. I'm sure that at one time this was a lovely landscape, but not any more. I get that places like Palm Springs (built in the middle of the desert for pete's sake) are probably looking at a grim future -- a day when our natural resources can no longer support the intense energy usage by this massive sprawl. But I fear this turbine trend will ultimately destroy some of the most beautiful, natural American landscapes. Here in Oregon it looks like the pristine Steens Mountain area will soon host a wind farm on private land leased by a struggling cattle rancher, and more sites are being actively solicited.

Is it worth the trade-off? Do we have a choice?

I have no answers or deep insights here. We have an energy problem. We need solutions. I like to imagine this impossible scenario: every energy user / household / business is given a monthly allotment of kilowatt hours, and once they're used up, no more energy! It would force people, businesses and industries to change their consuming ways and invest in better systems, make better choices. Instead of destroying natural habitats and marring the landscape in an effort to provide more energy, we would all be forced to live within our energy means. Feel free to shoot a million holes into this crazy, naive fantasy. An EnviroMom can dream.