Perhaps this will either kill the thread or give it a shot of adrenaline:
Each year, during hurricane season, I'm reminded once again of the power of the sun and what I (as an electronics guy) think of as "resonance". How some mountains in Africa can start a ripple effect in the winds that, with the addition of energy and the rotation of the earth, can magnify (can I say, "amplify"?) to the monsters like Andrew, Katrina and recently, Ike. And, the process doesn't happen over geological time periods but, rather over days.
The power is there but, like a house fire, it's uncontrolled and destructive. Are the minds of men (and women) so limited that we can't figure out a way to tap some of that power and make use of it? Are we so mentally impotent that we can't figure out how to create our own ripples in the wind, artificially, in an environment where we can create mini hurricanes that we can control the characteristics of?
The energy is there and nautre has figured out how to do stuff with it. How about we humans also give it a shot?