Paper companies used windmills to reduce wood to pulp for paper. The first windmill was unsuccessful in early America do to its high maintenance but after some refinement and experience with them it became useful. American Windmill success increased as people moved west. Approximately six million American windmills were operating in the Great Plains and the West between 1880 and 1930. Modern windmills use the power of the wind to produce electrical energy through the use of turbines Types and Styles of Wind Turbines Turbines operate through the principles of lift and drag to drive their blades through the air.
Lift devices use the difference in pressure created by the flow of air over the wing.
All modern wind turbines use aerodynamic lift to drive their blades through the air. By far the most commercially used and efficient style of turbine is the Horizontal Axis Wind Turbine. Drag-based designs work like a paddle used to propel a canoe through the water. If you assume that the paddle used to propel a canoe didn t slip then the maximum speed of the canoe would equal the speed of drag. This same principle holds true for wind.