Windmills?

[japple]

First of all, I don't know anything at all about them. But I have a few acres that are being used to grow hay (non-income-producing: my cousin feeds it to his cattle) and am wondering if I could invest in a couple of windmills to help produce energy for my home and possibly my neighbors--a mini windfarm. We live in an area where there is usually a breeze. I have googled windmills and don't get much information. Also, I'm on dial-up and some of the sites take so long to load that I can't wait.

Just wondering if anyone has any information to share. thanks.

[NMDemDist2]

1. check out the energy/enviornment forum

there is lots of good info and links over there

and try to google "wind turbine" instead of windmill. there's a place in the panhandle of Texas (or maybe OK) that has some nice small units available

[japple]

2. Thanks, AZdem.

I was thinking how nice it would be to have a couple of those old fashioned windmills out front. Kind of quaint. I see decorative ones all over the place.

[NMDemDist2]

4. I just drove through NM and saw lots of windmills for cattle watering

sites

they were very cute and seemed to work well too!

[japple]

5. When my Dad was growing up in S. Central Texas in the 30s,

every farm or ranch used a windmill for pumping water, and many still do. I like the old fashioned kind and was just wondering if they could be hooked up to some sort of energy storage system instead of using it for a water pump. I don't know anything at all about this stuff.

[Nevernose]

6. There's no drink better than water from a windmill.

Our family stumbled across a windmill in West Texas, the Big Bend area, in the 80s. The water from it was the best I've ever tasted. Lots of daisys around too -- really something magical. I doubt the old-fashioned kind could generate too much useful electricity, though, unless you seriously lowered your energy needs, like one flourescent light at night, and one flourescent only, plus you'd need batteries in most places as if it were solar.

[politicat]

3. What you're wanting is a wind generator.

Windmills are for grinding grain or otherwise converting the wind energy into mechanical power. Wind mills are pretty rare now, because we just don't use grist mills or wind power for spinning or weaving like we once did.

This is an excellent, low picture site: http://www.otherpower.com/otherpower_wind.html

Good luck!

[seemunkee]

7. Make magazine has a DIY windmill project in the latest issue

http://www.makezine.com/05/windmill/