Quiz: Test Your Wind Energy IQ

Wind is a more complex phenomenon than you might think! As the Sun warms the Earth and the planet rotates, it leads to areas of high and low atmospheric pressure that interact with terrain like mountains, oceans, plains and valleys to produce wind. The Energy Department studies wind patterns extensively to identify the best places in the U.S. for wind energy development. | Photo by Warren Gretz, NREL

The Persians are believed to have pioneered the use of windmills to pump water around 600 B.C. Grinding grain was another early use for the windmill in places like the Middle East, China and ancient Greece -- although there's no evidence that anyone outside of "Don Quixote" ever tried to fight one.

In 1887, James Blyth's revolutionary "wind engine" used cloth sails to generate electricity for his cottage in Marykirk, Scotland, making it the first wind-powered home in the world. Later that same year, Charles Brush completed America's first wind turbine in Cleveland, Ohio, a 60-foot tower design (pictured above) that supplied 12 kW of electricity to his mansion for 20 years. Georges Darrieus is credited with later developing the less-common vertical-axis wind turbine, sometimes called the "eggbeater" shape.

Most modern horizontal-axis wind turbines have three blades. Over decades of testing and experimentation -- much of it conducted at the Energy Department's National Labs -- the three-blade design has become widely accepted as the most efficient design for generating electricity in most cases. | Photo by Dennis Schroeder, NREL

The nacelle of a wind turbine, where the tower meets the rotor, houses important components like the gear box, which converts the relatively slow rotation of the blades into the higher RPM of the turbine's generator. The yaw drive is a motor that turns the nacelle to keep the rotor facing into the wind at all times. | Energy Department photo

From large tower segments to complex gearboxes, wind turbines are composed of more than 8,000 separate components. | Photo courtesy of Clipper Windpower.

The average hub height (measured at the center of the blades) of most modern U.S. wind turbines is 444 ignore this span 88 meters (289 feet), about as tall as the Statue of Liberty. According to Energy Department research, next-generation wind turbines with towers 110 to 140 meters (360 to 460 feet) tall could reach stronger, more efficient winds high above the ground, unlocking access to wind power in all 50 states. | Energy Department photo

In 2018, Kansas got 36.4% of the electricity it generated in-state from wind, followed by Iowa at 33.7%, and Oklahoma at 31.7%. Texas leads the United States in total wind installed capacity with nearly 24,895 MW, accounting for 15.9% of its electricity generation. | Photo by Todd Spink, NREL

The United States ranks second in the world behind China in wind "installed capacity" -- that is, how much total energy its turbines could generate if they were turning constantly. | Photo courtesy of Chris Lim

Wind energy is now the cheapest form of power in some parts of the country, with new power purchase agreements in 2018 averaging below 2 cents per kilowatt-hour. | Photo courtesy of Jenny Hager Photography

At the end of 2018, the wind industry workforce stood at 114,000. "Wind turbine technician" is the second-fastest-growing American job of the decade, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. | Photo by Dennis Schroeder, NREL

Distributed wind power is used at or near where it is generated, as opposed to wind power from wholesale generation, where power is sent to consumers via transmission lines and substations. Employed by households, schools, farms, industrial facilities, and municipalities, distributed wind doesn’t only refer to small-scale turbines; it includes any size turbine or array of turbines that generates power for local or on-site use. Total distributed wind capacity in the U.S. is over 1,000 megawatts from over 83,000 turbines. | Energy Department photo

The Energy Department's Wind Energy Technologies Office funds early-stage research nationwide to develop and deploy offshore wind technologies that can capture wind resources off the coasts of the United States and convert that wind into electricity. Offshore wind holds tremendous potential to generate clean, renewable electricity for American homes and businesses. The 30-megawatt Block Island Wind Farm became the first operating U.S. offshore wind farm in December 2016. | Photo by Dennis Schroeder, NREL