With the increased costs of energy derived from fossil fuels, many consumers are interested in alternative sources of energy. Unfortunately the market trend tells us that little to no relief in oil prices is in sight. A great source of power can be harnessed from the wind using electricity generating windmills. Below is a brief history of wind power, and how it came to be.
Wind power has been harnessed for many, many years. Nobody knows for sure when man started using the wind’s power to grind flour or pump water, but it is thought that the first windmill appeared in the Persian region. From there this windmill technology spread back to northern Europe. Windmills crafted by the Dutch were used primarily to pump water.
Windmills were definitely not the first structures to harness the wind. This award belongs to the sailboat. More than likely, founded in small scale (small canoe with an animal skin as a sail) the sailboat became the only way to cross large areas of water. The sailboat evolved into large ships moving great distances by using only wind as a source of power.
Windmills on a smaller scale showed up in America in the mid 19th Century. The...