Thousands of Years Using Wind Adapted from Information by the U.S. Energy Information Administration Wind energy has been harnessed for transportation along the Nile River since as early as 5000 B.C., with its applications expanding significantly over the centuries. By 200 B.C., the Chinese had developed simple wind-powered water pumps, while windmills featuring woven-reed blades were already operating in Persia and the Middle East to grind grain. As innovative methods to utilize wind energy emerged, they gradually spread across the globe. By the 11th century, wind pumps and windmills were commonplace in the Middle East, playing a crucial role in agricultural production. This technology made its way to Europe through merchants and crusaders. The Dutch particularly excelled in engineering large wind pumps to drain lakes and marshes in the Rhine River Delta. Eventually, Europeans brought this wind energy technology to the Americas. In the United States, early settlers relied on windmills for various tasks, including grinding grain, pumping water, and sawing wood at sawmills. As homesteaders and ranchers expanded into the western regions, they installed thousands of wind pumps to provide water for their livestock. The late 19th and early 20th centuries witnessed the rise of small wind-electric generators, known as wind turbines. However, the proliferation of wind pumps and turbines began to wane in the 1930s due to rural electrification programs that extended power to most farms and ranches. Despite this decline, some ranchers continued to utilize wind pumps for livestock water supply, and small turbines experienced resurgence, particularly for electricity generation in remote and rural locations. The oil crises of the 1970s shifted the global energy landscape, igniting interest in alternative energy sources, such as wind, for electricity generation. The U.S. federal government responded by promoting research and development of large wind turbines. In the early 1980s, California saw the installation of thousands of wind turbines, driven by supportive federal and state policies aimed at fostering renewable energy use. From the 1990s onward, both federal and state governments in the U.S. have implemented financial incentives and mandates to promote renewable energy sources. The federal government allocated funding for research and development to lower the cost of wind turbines, while also providing tax breaks, as well as investment incentives for wind power initiatives. These policies have led to a significant increase in the number of wind turbines and the amount of electricity produced from wind energy. The proportion of U.S. electricity generated from wind energy has surged from under 1% in 1990, to approximately 10.2% by 2022. In 1990, only 16 countries produced about 3.6 billion kWh (kilowatt-hours) of wind electricity, but by 2021, at least 128 countries generated approximately 2000 billion kWh of wind energy. ENV 25 SEPTEMBER 2025 WorldWide Drilling Resource®
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