The History of Wind Power

As the cost of energy drawn from fossil fuels become greater than before, many people want to have another source of energy. Luckily, an immense source of power can be gathered from the wind by the use of electricity generating windmills. To find out more about how it came about, here is a chronological history of wind power.

For thousands of years, people have already been utilizing the power of the wind.

• In 5000 BC - there were boats sailing down the Nile River, which were propelled by the wind.

• In China in the year 200 BC, there were plain windmills that pumped water.

• Around this time, the Persians were making use of a vertical-axis windmill with woven reed sails to pound on the grain.

From then on, people never stopped looking to find new ways to use wind energy, and so the history of wind power continued to unfold.

• Through the 11th century, the Middle East’s inhabitants were using windmills to a great extent for producing food.

• The returning traders and crusaders brought this knowledge back to Europe.

• The Dutch familiarized themselves with the windmill and had used it for pumping out water from the lakes and swamps in the Rhine River Delta.

• In the late 19th century, after the conquerors took this machinery to America, they started to use windmills to propel water for ranches and farms, and soon after, to produce electricity for industry and homes.

• In the mid-19th century, smaller windmills turned up in America. The Dempster and Aermotor design were conceived and a lot of them are still in use.

• Beginning around 1850 to 1970, over 6,000,000 windmills were set up in the United States. And its chief usage was for supplying water to the farm homes and for pumping water for livestock.

• It was in the late 19th Century that the very first windmill that produces electricity was created. This windmill was called the Brush postmill, its rotor was roughly 17 meters in diameter. Also, this windmill had a gearbox with a high spin ratio affixed to a DC generator.

• In mid 1920's, a few small-scale systems were discovered all over the Midwestern plains and they were used to provide the farms with electricity. Generally, these devices had a 1- to 3-kilowatt output.

• The biggest wind generator to ever be made came in 1941. This generator's power was 1.25 megawatts, and was called the Smith-Putnam machine. Its rotor is exactly 175 ft. in diameter, a size that was quite astounding at that time.

• Changes in the prices of fuels have always affected the generator’s popularity. In fact, as the fuel prices decreased after the World War II, the interest for wind generators declined too.

• But in the ‘70’s, when the oil prices increased, the world’s interest in wind generators also went up with it.

• Later, after the 70’s, many modern ways of turning wind energy into practical power were established. An example is the wind power plants of turbines or "wind farms" that supply electricity for the people.

Today, the history of wind power goes on as these generators are continuously being developed. Many wind generators now are being relied upon for power. From small-scale residential structures that are inexpensive to the large-scale wind generator farms that provide large quantity of electricity services to the people.