Midwest’s windmills generate buzz

MASON CITY, Iowa

City planner Tricia Sandahl says the council initially considered permitting windmills only in industrial areas. “Then we decided, let’s just take a bolder step,” she says. “We wanted to encourage small wind systems in residential areas. With electric prices going up, it just makes sense.”

A few generations ago, almost every farm around here had a windmill that generated enough energy to pump water or grind grain. Those old-fashioned windmills became extinct after rural electric cooperatives extended power in the 1940s. In the last decade, commercial wind farms sprouted as energy costs soared.

USA Today