For a number of years, there has been concern among policy makers and consumers that we are entirely too dependent on fossil fuels for the lions share of our energy. To forward looking people,
the folly of depending on a single source for our energy is obvious. The folly is brought into sharper focus when we remember that we depend on foreign sources for at least 50 percent of the
crude oil we consume.Energy companies depend largely on market forces to develop strategies for developing alternate sources of energy. Renewable energy, including solar and wind energy have
been almost entirely neglected by the energy companies over the years. (��f I can't make a buck, then I can't get interested.�� That leaves the government and the consumers to advance the
causes of alternate energy, especially renewable energy. Unlike many European countries, the American government has been slow to take on the renewable energy cause. Two recent developments
have served to put pressure on the government to think seriously about developing renewable energy. One is the rising cost of crude oil on the international market. The other is the concern
over global warming (exacerbated by carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases released into the atmosphere by burning fossil fuels).During the first half of the 20th century, wind energy got a
big boost when hundreds of small power-generating windmills and water-pumping windmills were installed on farms throughout the west and Midwest during a quest for electric power in rural areas.
That initiative lost virtually all its momentum when electricity became available from large electric power companies.Interest in power-generating windmills has between rekindled in recent
years. Until recently, if an ��ppropriate technology enthusiast��wanted to build a small-scale power-generating windmill, he would have had to develop (invent) the required technology. Then
when the next one wanted to build his windmill, he would have had to reinvent everything. That changed with the advent of the internet. Now windmill builders, living hundreds or thousands of
miles apart, can learn from each other, and build on each other's successes. In this book, I have collected my own windmill building experience and that of others so that you have all the
relevant instructions in a single source in front of you.
