| With the increased costs of energy derived from fossil | | | | windmills were installed in the United States. The main |
| fuels, many consumers are interested in alternative | | | | application was pumping water for livestock and |
| sources of energy. Unfortunately the market trend tells | | | | providing farm homes with a water supply.In the late |
| us that little to no relief in oil prices is in sight. A great | | | | 19th Century, the first windmill to generate electricity |
| source of power can be harnessed from the wind | | | | was born! This was the Brush postmill in Cleveland |
| using electricity generating windmills. Below is a brief | | | | Ohio, and the year was 1888! The rotor was |
| history of wind power, and how it came to be.Wind | | | | approximately 17 meters in diameter. This windmill had |
| power has been harnessed for many, many years. | | | | a gearbox with a high spin ratio attached to a DC |
| Nobody knows for sure when man started using the | | | | generator.By the middle 1920's, several small scale |
| wind's power to grind flour or pump water, but it is | | | | systems were found across the Midwestern plains |
| thought that the first windmill appeared in the Persian | | | | and used to supply farms with electricity. These |
| region. From there this windmill technology spread back | | | | systems generally had a 1 to 3 kilowatt output.1941 |
| to northern Europe. Windmills crafted by the Dutch | | | | saw the largest wind generator to date. This |
| were used primarily to pump water.Windmills were | | | | generator's capacity was 1.25 megawatts. It was |
| definitely not the first structures to harness the wind. | | | | known as the Smith-Putnam machine. The rotor |
| This award belongs to the sailboat. More than likely, | | | | measured an astonishing 175 feet in diameter.Today, |
| founded in small scale (small canoe with an animal skin | | | | many wind turbines are in operation from small scale |
| as a sail) the sailboat became the only way to cross | | | | residential systems that are affordable to the |
| large areas of water. The sailboat evolved into large | | | | homeowner to large scale wind turbine farms that are |
| ships moving great distances by using only wind as a | | | | used to supply a large amount of electricity to utility |
| source of power.Windmills on a smaller scale showed | | | | customers.For more information on wind power, visit |
| up in America in the mid 19th Century. The Aermotor | | | | us online at is one of the alternative energy sites Will |
| and Dempster design were invented and many are still | | | | Reece owns and operates. Please visit us today! |
| in use. From 1850 to 1970 more than 6,000,000 | | | | |