News & Articles on History of Wind Power
This page was prompted by a technical question about early electricity-generating wind turbines in the United States. The question followed a similar question about “who was the first” to interconnect a wind turbine with an electricity network. There is a lot of confusion internationally about both subjects.
The history of wind energy is a broad subject and many have written about it. I’ve pulled together a list of sources, books, links, and museums that I know about. This list is far from comprehensive. If anyone wants to add to this list or edit this list, please do so.
A number of the entries below are reviews I’ve written of books that include the history of wind energy. The original book can usually be reached from the review. Other news items are relevant to the history of wind turbine development.
French Water-Pumping Windmills and Éolienne Bollée
By
Paul Gipe
In the research for my forthcoming book, Wind Energy for the Rest of Us, I came across a lot of intriguing information about the development of wind energy. While fascinating, much of it is too far afield for one book on wind energy. So I am posting these items on my web site so they’re searchable–by me as well as others.
Charles Miller’s Four Blade Turbine of 1926: Indiana’s Contribution to Wind Energy History
By
Paul Gipe
Miller was an inveterate inventor and the Madison County (Indiana) Historical Society has an exhibited devoted to his work. It was here that I first saw a clipping of his wind turbine.
Dutch Transplant Wants to Save a Czech Watermill
By
Paul Gipe
Wherein we reconnect with a Dutch miller and learn of his campaign to preserve his adopted country’s watermills.
Photos of Germania, Zilvermeeuw, Kinderdijk, and Zaanse Schans Windmills Posted
By
Paul Gipe
I am continuing to update my web site by posting a series of photographs taken many years ago of Dutch …
Was Anderson Indiana a Part of Wind Industry History?
By
Paul Gipe
I don’t have a good answer to that question. All I know is that I stumbled a cross a faded newspaper clipping at the Madison County Historical Society that pictured a wind turbine that I’d never seen before. Not only was it an unknown wind turbine—to me certainly—but that I’d never seen reference to it or its inventor Charles E. Miller before.
Still Turning: A History of Aermotor Windmills–A Review
By
Paul Gipe
Finally an answer to a question that has gnawed at me for decades: Where did one of the great windmill manufacturers of all time get the name Aermotor? Why not Aeromotor? That was the way I’ve spelled it—in error–many times. Why not Airmotor? That’s certainly what it was.
