Maine's windkeepers: From ship masts to windmills

[OKIsItJustMe]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/08/12/AR2009081200593.html

Maine's windkeepers: From ship masts to windmills

By GLENN ADAMS
The Associated Press
Wednesday, August 12, 2009; 10:49 AM

TOWNSHIP 8, RANGE 3, Maine -- Silent surroundings almost tease the ears as clouds skitter across the top of this eastern corner of Maine. The wind, barely audible, swishes through beech and fir trees crowding the hills of an area so remote it's part of the state's Unorganized Territory.

Along the rounded ridge of Stetson Mountain, wisps of wind gain a whoosh-whoosh cadence as they push into motion mammoth blades at the tops of towers reaching hundreds of feet into the air.

Those same winds help turn on the lights, run TVs and power washers, dryers and ovens in thousands of homes all over New England. They also help to heat the water for Andy Doak's shower before he heads out for work just after dawn on a cool summer morning.

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The winds that once powered fleets of Maine's storied sailing ships now churn out the juice for a green energy industry the state is breathlessly pursuing. Technology that moves ships through the seas is much the same as what's applied on the turbines.

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