Air for Sale

Troy Helming looks good for a guy who's been losing sleep.

Microphone in hand, he gazes out from a small stage at the Overland Park Convention Center. Beside him is a plug-in model of a futuristic white windmill.

"Kansas City is known for a few things," Helming begins in a strong, clear voice. "Great jazz, famous barbecue and, soon, as the home of Krystal Planet."

It's November 2004, and some of the people in the audience have flown in from as far away as Florida to hear Helming, their 37-year-old leader, update them on the state of their young company, Krystal Planet. Helming calls the people in the audience "ecos" -- short for energy consultants -- and this is the first annual Krystal Planet Renewable Energy and Hydrogen Expo.

Helming launches into his signature presentation about trends in America's energy consumption. It is a lecture he's given dozens of times, studded with facts on mercury pollution, the world's dwindling oil fields, inflation in the price of natural gas. His earnest message and his ability to call up meaningful statistics make him a go-to guy for the media. He's been a talking head for the Discovery Channel and National Public Radio. But tonight, in front of his ecos, he's a little breathless.

"I am so excited to be here tonight! Oh, man! I've been waiting years for this moment, I have to tell you. I mean, I've gotten, I don't know, maybe a cumulative of four to six hours of sleep this week, you know. I can't sleep at night. I've been getting up, Alysia knows, I've been getting up four, five o' clock in the morning ... "

He looks at Alysia Helming, his wife, whom he met on Match.com. She nods from behind the PowerPoint projector.

"Monday night I stayed up till four in the morning. Finished my book Monday night, by the way," Helming continues, to applause. He's referring to The Clean Power Revolution, available in paperback from his Web site. In that book, Helming details his "Freedom Plan" to get America powered 100 percent by renewable energy -- such as wind power and hydrogen power -- by 2025.

According to Helming, Krystal Planet is a revolutionary new concept in the world of "green" marketing. Launched in April 2004, the company's short-term goal is to spend $1.6 million to build two electricity-producing wind turbines, either in Kansas or somewhere in the Caribbean. Helming is proud to say that he's no tree hugger. His politics are conservative, and he makes no apologies for his ultimate goal: "to get filthy, stinking happy." His speech lingers on words like billionaire.

After all, one of Krystal Planet's mottos is "When the wind is blowin', the payments are flowin'."

Becoming an eco takes one thing: a monthly check for $20, payable to Krystal Planet.

"Stay loyal to the company. Stay the course," Helming tells his ecos. "Go over the little speed bumps, the little hiccups. I can tell you we're not going to be perfect. We're going to make a few mistakes here and there. We're still a little tiny company, not even in the ground floor. We're in the what?"

The crowd answers in unison, "In the basement!"

Helming beams. "We're looking up at the ground floor, so bear with us. But I sincerely hope that each and every one of you will achieve great wealth for yourselves and for your families and save the planet at the same time."

To harness the power of the wind, Helming hopes to use another form of energy: the average consumer. A generation of kids who learned to recycle in school, whose science classes included units on dwindling rainforests, melting ice caps and global warming, is now entering the workforce. That means a legion of buyers looking to spend their dollars on things that make them feel environmentally responsible, products with labels signaling their eco-friendliness.

Helming promotes himself as the golden-boy representative of renewable energy, a hip and savvy emissary from America's clean-powered future. He's training to be a pilot. He's a member of Mensa. He used to compete as a gymnast. His goal is to climb the mountain peaks known as the Seven Summits.

He calls himself a maverick. His close-knit business associates call him an innovator.

The scientists who are struggling to make wind power legitimate in Kansas, though, call him an outsider.

It doesn't get as much ink as gay marriage and evolution, but wind energy is an extremely touchy subject in Kansas.

Experts predict that investors will spend as much as $3 billion on wind energy in 2005; in fact, they predict that this will be wind power's biggest year. That's because late last year, Congress approved a tax break for developers hoping to finance wind-energy projects -- but the incentive is good only through 2005. Last year, developers built projects generating 389 megawatts of wind power (enough to power 120,000-160,000 homes); this year, the industry expects an additional 2,000 megawatts to come online.

For Kansas, that could mean millions of dollars in investment, millions in construction activity and dozens of jobs. There are other perks, too. One large-scale wind farm already operates in the state, built by Florida Power and Light in Gray County's Montezuma. And though wind development companies in Kansas don't have to pay property taxes for their projects, they generally try to be good neighbors, offering yearly donations to municipalities where they build, comparable to the taxes they might pay otherwise. For example, Florida Power and Light gives Gray County schools $300,000 a year.