Windmills : The Most Promising Alternative Power Source

Along the plateau at the most exposed part of Laguna Summit between San Diego and El Centro, California, the Kumeyay Nation has erected a field full of monumental windmills. Some of them reach more than ten stories high. At the summit, where the hot, dry desert air collides with cool moist ocean breezes, wind becomes a precious and infinitely renewable resource. Those mighty windmills power more than a thousand homes on the reservation, and they power a sprawling casino in the foothills. The Kumeyay have cast their fate to the wind. And they're turning a handsome profit. Learn a lesson from the Kumeyay who have harnessed the wind to power their pursuit of the silver buffalo. Build a windmill.

Experts agree that, among all the rapidly proliferating renewable and alternative energy technologies, windmills offer greatest promise. More efficient, durable, and reliable than solar cells, windmills excel at precisely the times when cells fail: they run all night, they thrive in storms, and they keep churning even on cloudy days. With new technology that maximizes the windmill's productivity, a relatively small, inexpensive windmill can generate as much power as a full complement of solar cells. With advances in composites and other building materials, designers cleverly have overcome or gone around some of the old obstacles to constructing backyard windmills. And with the spread of the "green" network across the internet, hundreds of sites show homeowners how to design, build, and connect their own windmills for as little as $200.

Like every innovator, you may, at first, see more obstacles than solutions. But the technology adapts to almost every situation and circumstance. Of course, some terrain and some climates make windmills impractical, but the wind blows steadily almost everywhere. Although in the windmill world bigger is definitely better, the fact remains that a windmill less than six feet tall will generate enough electricity to power a large appliance. And, among all the obstacles you foresee, your lack of building skill should count as nearly nothing. Many online vendors and a lot of home-improvement retailers now offer pre-fabricated kits that go together almost as easily as Tinkertoys or Legos.

Homeowners restrictions and local building codes may prevent your building a windmill or turbine large enough to power your whole house, but even the strictest constraints allow plenty of room for building a windmill large enough to power the majority of your lights and small appliances.