Wind Energy

For over 5,000 years, mankind has recognized the importance of wind energy. The ancient Egyptians used wind energy to sail ships on the Nile River. Later, people built windmills to grind wheat and other grains. These early windmills looked like large paddle wheels. Centuries later, the people of Holland improved the basic design of the windmill. They gave it propeller-shaped blades, and made it so it could be turned into the wind. Windmills helped Holland become one of the world's most industrialized countries by the 17th century.
American colonists used windmills to grind wheat and corn, to pump water, and to cut wood at sawmills. As late as the 1920s, Americans used small windmills to generate electricity in rural areas that were without electric service. When power lines began to transport electricity to rural areas in the 1930s, local windmills were used less and less. However, windmills can still be seen today on some ranches in the western United States.
The oil shortages of the 1970s changed the energy picture for the United States and the world. It created an interest in alternative energy sources, paving the way for the re-entry of the windmill to generate electricity. In the early 1980s, wind energy really took off in California, partly because of state policies that encouraged renewable energy sources. Support for wind development has since spread to other states, but California still produces more than twice as much wind energy as any other state. Today, wind energy is considered one of America’s greatest natural resources.
About one to two per cent of the energy coming from the sun is converted into wind energy, which is enough to meet the electricity needs of the world three times over. As long as the sun shines, wind energy is a source of power that will never run out. Wind energy is plentiful, renewable, widely distributed, and a clean source of electricity. When converted into wind power, wind energy can benefit mankind in the future by providing a viable source of electricity.

To learn more about wind energy and other wind-related topics, please visit Home Wind Power.