Main entry:

Righter, Robert W.

Title & Author:

Wind energy in America : a history / by Robert W. Righter.

Publication:

Norman, Okla. : University of Oklahoma Press, 1996.

Description:

xxi, 361 pages : illustrations ; 23 cm

Notes:
Includes bibliographical references and index.
1. Human Use of Wind Energy -- 2. A Connection Is Made: Wind into Electricity -- 3. Exploring the Possibilities -- 4. Wind Energy Finds a Place -- 5. The REA Offers a Different Way -- 6. In the Doldrums, but Putnam and Thomas Emerge -- 7. In the Lee of the Energy Crisis, Wind Picks Up -- 8. The Riddle of Reliability -- 9. Decisions for the Wind -- 10. California Takes the Lead -- 11. Catching the Breath of the Sun: Problems and Promise -- 12. A Perspective on the Future.

Summary:

This compelling saga is the history of the effort to capture the power of the wind for electricity. Environmental historian Robert W. Righter has included in his narrative the first European windmills, the nineteenth-century electric experiments that empowered rural America, and finally, the immense, acres-wide wind farms that feed the power grid in late-twentieth-century California and elsewhere.
Righter tells lively tales not only of eccentric inventors and technical innovations but also of the politics of the power industry, past and present. From his thorough research in a variety of archival sources, he describes how individuals and small businesses have contributed the most to wind-energy development, concluding that for rural America at least, an individual, decentralized power system is a reasonable alternative.
Wind Energy in America, however, does not end in the past. Well over one-third of the narrative focuses on the contemporary development of wind energy and the international race for dominance in the wind-turbine business. Righter is courageous enough to take a stand regarding federal government research efforts (SERI, NRAL) and the crucial role of public and private power companies.
He also explores the arguments of people and organizations opposed to the spread of wind generators - paradoxically, often the same environmental groups that hailed wind energy as a savior in the late 1970s.

ISBN:

0806128127
9780806128122

Subject:

Wind power United States History.
Electric power production United States History.
Énergie éolienne États-Unis Histoire.
Électricité Production États-Unis Histoire.
Electric power production.
Wind power.
Geschichte
Nutzung
Windenergie
Windkraftwerk
Wind power History.
Electric power History.
United States.
USA

Form/genre:

History.

Holdings:

Location: Library main 251519
Call No.: TK1541 .R54 1996
Status: Available