Wind energy is booming. Not since the heyday of the American farm windmill has wind energy grown at such a dramatic pace. By the new millennium, more than 40,000 medium-size wind turbines will be in operation worldwide, mostly in California, Europe, and India. These commercial wind turbines, including those found in California's giant wind power plants, will produce 20 terawatt-hours (20,000 million kilowatt-hours) of wind-generated electricity annually.

The most common technique here in the United States is to raise the tilt-up towers with a truck or tractor. I’ve never been a fan of this approach and I’ve long wondered if there is a better way. The griphoist, a simple hand winch, may be the answer. While no system is foolproof, using a griphoist can reduce the chance of accidents when raising and lowering a tower.

My thanks to everyone on the awea-wind-home list for your help raising the BWC 850. Sunday 21 June, Nancy and I lowered the turbine with the griphoist. (Because we will be traveling for the next five months I didn't want the turbine to run unattended and thought it best to lower the turbine and store it in a safe place.)