WIND POWER

The Benevolent Breeze Wind power, the benevolent breeze, has been used for thousands of years to pump water, grind grain, and power water vessels. By 1900, 100,000 windmills were operating in Denmark, and by 1916, over 1,300 of these were generating electricity. More than 6 million windmills were built in the US over the last century. Most were abandoned due to cheap electricity supplied by the rural electrification program.

In 1931 the USSR built the world's first large wind generator near Yalta with a 100,000 watt turbine, Today much larger units are powerful enough to supply electricity to hundreds of homes. Tiny household wind systems are small enough to supply merely a single light bulb.

The United States is well endowed with sites favorable for harnessing wind energy, where average annual speeds are over 12 mph. The best sites are in mountainous areas, in the great plains, along the coastlines, and around the Great Lakes.

Significant progress has been made in the establishment of windfarms around the US. These are clusters of wind turbines that are placd in especially windy spots, like the Altamont Pass in California. Over 1,000 windmills have already been installed at several sites in that state. Likewise, smaller commercial windfarms are now operating in Massachusetts, Hawaii, Vermont, and Montana.

Windpower is a source of free clean energy. With further development of the technology, improved means of storing this energy and economical mass production of windmill equipment, wind power will play an important role as a renewable energy source at thousands of sites around the world.