Interesting facts about wind mills

September 27, 2010 | In: Random interesting fact

You might think the first wind machines would have been dedicated to some labor saving task, but that may not have been the case. The first known wind machine design wasn’t for grinding grain or pumping water, but for playing an organ.

Hero of Alexandria, in Egypt, described a wind-powered organ as early as 150 to 250 BC, but the first place windmills were used for work was apparently Persia. By 1000 AD they were in general use in Europe, and particularly in Holland, which used them so extensively for grinding and pumping water that the windmill became virtually a national emblem.

At the high point in the 19th Century, there were about 9,000 windmills in Holland. Wind power was also used in the Western United States to pump water prior to rural electrification and gasoline engines.

But with the advent of other power sources, wind power fell out of popularity, though since the sharp oil price increases during the 1970s there has been some renewed interest in wind power.