On my recent cross country trip, I was amazed to see the number of wind turbines that dot the landscape starting in the midwest and continuing to the west coast. We don't see that many wind turbines in the northeast and, while I have seen them in my travels, the large clusters of them in "wind farms" was quite the sight. I was particularly surprised to find out that Iowa has the third largest number of them in the US.
In researching wind energy for this post, I was surprised to find out that today's wind turbines are actually referred to as windmills if the resulting mechanical energy is used to drive machinery rather than electricity.
I am sure to some, these wind farms are sleek looking and efficient but, to my eyes, I'll take the look of the old windmills that were built hundreds of years ago. When I look at this image that I shot along the banks of the Zaan River outside of Amsterdam, I wonder what the people who built this windmill would think of today's windmill replacement.