Wind

A Primer on Small Turbines

A Little History
The wind has been an important source of energy in the U.S. for a long time. The mechanical windmill was one of the two "high-technology" inventions (the other was barbed wire) of the late 1800's that allowed us to develop much of our western
frontier. Over 8 million mechanical windmills have been installed in the U.S. since the 1860's and some of these units have been in operation for more than a hundred years. Back in the 1920's and 1930's, before the REA began subsidizing rural electric coops and electric lines, farm families throughout the Midwest used 200-3,000 watt wind generators to power lights, radios, and kitchen appliances. The modest wind industry that had built up by the 1930's was literally driven out of business by government policies favoring the construction of utility lines and fossil fuel power plants.


This message was edited Oct 14, 2008 10:46 AM