WASHINGTON, Oct. 19, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Following is the daily "Profile America" feature from the U.S. Census Bureau:

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SATURDAY, OCTOBER 19:  FIRST WIND TURBINE GENERATOR

Profile America — Saturday, October 19^th.

Throughout the decades since the oil embargo of 1973, increasing research and development has gone into renewable sources of energy. One of the results is seen atop windswept hills across America — large electricity generating windmills. While the concept sounds very modern, the first practical wind turbine generator goes back 72 years. It was on this date in 1941 that Palmer Putnam of Vermont demonstrated his device. His wind turbine had blades 66 feet in length, and over nearly 700 hours of operation, produced almost 300,000 kilowatt hours. Reflecting the increasing cost of fossil fuel for electrical generation, the average residential bill has risen from $879 a year in 2000 to $1,335. Profile America is in its 17th year as a public service of the U.S. Census Bureau.

Sources:Kane 3557 http://www.todaysengineer.org/2013/May/history.asphttp://www.census.gov/prod/2011pubs/12statab/energy.pdf   t. 952

Profile America is produced by the Center for New Media and Promotions of the U.S. Census Bureau. These daily features are available as produced segments, ready to air, on the Internet at http://www.census.gov (look for "Multimedia Gallery" by the "Newsroom" button). 

SOURCE U.S. Census Bureau

RELATED LINKShttp://www.census.gov