Wind Power (1970s)

[Music] [Music] residents of this Rhode Island community can use steady ocean breezes to help air condition their homes in the summer or to heat them during the cold New England Winters they'll do it with a 200,000 watt wind turbine generator the place is Block Island about 35 Mi south of Providence this is the third experimental 200,000 watt wind machine in a 5-year wind energy program a joint project of the Department of energy and NASA this New England Island like all windmill sites was chosen because of its consistently high winds the generator will Electrify up to 250 homes during the winter that's half the permanent residences on the island until the windmill Black Island used all diesel generators for electricity but now wind energy and diesel fuel will work together to power the island block islands winds should make it possible for the generator to operate at an average yearr round output of 100,000 watts an hour now when we come to savings it's directly proportional to the fuel if this machine generates approximately 100 average which it will with a 17 mph wind that would come to a considerable amount of fuel 40 50,000 gallons um during the course of a year and simply multiply that by the present price and you can see that it's it's substantial island is not the only Community boasting a new wind generator another windmill now Towers majestically 1,000 ft above the mountain town of Boon North Carolina and the folks from Boon have lots to brag about because their windmill is the largest in the world the blades alone weigh 18 tons they spread 200 ft from tip to tip about the wingspan of a Boeing 747 the machine produc is 2 million watts of electricity or 10 times as much as the other generators before the dedication Engineers tested the windmill from the control Vans okay here we go monitor enable the electricity that's produced is cabled Underground through the legs of the generator and then ties in here before it sent down the mountain for distribution dedication day was a big event in bone it was declared a town holiday and everyone turned out to celebrate Mountain [Music] style it's you on my pillow in all of my dreams [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] inter in wind energy is growing and now that the cost of fossil fuel has increased and supplies have dwindled Engineers are once again turning to the wind as a potential source of renewable energy [Music]