Wind Power History

The story of alternative energy via wind power

What is wind power? How does wind power work? How long has wind power been around? Everyone has asked these questions one time or another. Wind power has been around since the beginning of time.

It development of technology have been well proven over the years of time. When the sun emit heat to warm of the Earth it would be unbearable without wind. Wind widely disperses the heat making it bearable for all living things to survive. Without wind nothing would exist, it would just like all the other planets uninhibited by human nature or any living things for that matter.

You asked what wind power is. Well wind power is the transformation of energy from wind to electricity or other forms of energy. Wind turbines are required for this process. What is a wind turbine? A wind turbine is a machine that transforms kinetic energy from the wind into mechanical energy. This may sound very complicated, but it truly is not. People have been doing for many years now. Man had to learn how to survive on Earth with the help of machines because without them life would definitely be a lot harder. Machines at work have taken many jobs that humans once had to do.

Wind power was first used in ancient times with the sail boat. The sail boat was propelled by the wind force that pushed up again the heavy sails. Does not sound like a whole lot does it? But it is pretty amazing because allowed for a means of transportation over the seas. Sailors understood wind and lift but did not know the physics of it. This knowledge helped man create the first windmill. A windmill worked pretty much the same way as the sail boat. Wind pushed the heavy sail-like blades which in turn worked a machine that was usually on the inside of a building or structure.

When windmills were first developed they were used to assist man with the chores of pumping and grinding. The first undocumented windmill in history was known to have been developed somewhere in between 500 to 900 A.D. in Persia. It was utilized for water pumping but it is now known what type of water transport it was actually used for. The Persian windmill which was an American generic is the first documented windmill which was constructed some where in the 19^th Century. The sails were made of bundles of reeds or wood. They were mounted by horizontal struts to the main vertical shaft. It was used for grinding grain by the use of a grinding stone that was mounted to the vertical shaft.

Over two thousand years ago Chinese used a vertical axis windmill for grinding grain and for pumping water. The most successful use of wind power was used for pumping water and was built on the Island of Crete. The windmill had sail like blades that rotated and in turn made a pump spread water to crops and livestock. This was a very huge develop that was widely used. The Island of Crete still has a windmill that still exists. All this information proves to everyone that wind power has been used since the beginning of time.