| Mankind has been harnessing the energy of the | | | | construction powered the lighting in his holiday |
| wind to power our machines for centuries. The | | | | cottage, making this building a significant first in |
| obvious example of the first use of wind power is | | | | the evolution of renewable energy. |
| in sailing. Mankind has been building boats that are | | | | In America, Charles Brush designed and built a |
| propelled by the wind for over five thousand | | | | larger windmill at around the same time. This was |
| years. We have constructed sails on our boats | | | | used for a few years to power lamps and |
| that allow us to capture the force of the wind | | | | motors in his laboratory. |
| and move our boats across the water. | | | | In the 20th century wind power turbines were |
| The first usage of wind power to drive | | | | cropping up the whole world over. In Denmark |
| mechanical machines dates from the 7th century | | | | there was a push towards having many small |
| in Iran. This is the first example of the windmill. A | | | | electricity generating sites, and wind power was a |
| number of sails attached around a large vertical | | | | large part of that drive. In Australia wind turbines |
| drive shaft capture the energy of the wind to | | | | were used to power remote post offices. In |
| spin the shaft. This motion was used for grinding | | | | America, rural off grid farms are harnessing wind |
| up crops. | | | | power until they were connected to the grid. |
| In Europe we see the proliferation of the | | | | The first megawatt turbine was built in Vermont |
| horizontal axis windmill late in the 12th century. | | | | USA in 1941. In the 1970s and 1980s the US |
| Primarily used to grind flour, some of this style of | | | | government, through NASA, pushed on the |
| windmill still exist today in Holland. Note the | | | | technology and researched and pioneered many |
| different styles of windmill: the vertical axis | | | | of the designs that we still use today. |
| windmill first appears in the Middle East but it is | | | | Nowadays, concerns over the availability of the |
| the horizontal axis windmill that first appears in | | | | remaining fossil fuels, and particularly rising oil |
| Europe. | | | | prices have led to increasing energy tariffs. |
| In the 19th century windmills are typically used for | | | | Modern thinking proposes that the future holds |
| milling and irrigation pumps. They exist across | | | | more of the same. This has led to many people |
| Europe and the Midwest of America. The first | | | | to return to residential wind power to gain some |
| windmill used for electricity creation was built in | | | | independence from the utility companies. |
| Scotland in 1887 by James Blyth. His ten meter | | | | |