What is Renewable Energy?
Many people have no idea what renewable energy is or the critical role it plays in our lives. Unlike fossil fuels that have a finite supply and are key contributors to greenhouse gas emissions, renewable energy is “clean” energy derived from natural sources that regenerate at a higher rate than people consume them.
In "Renewable Energy on the Farm" energy themes will be explored through interactive displays incorporating water, wind, solar, and organic matter in a series of outdoor exhibits at the Museum’s gristmill, windmill, chicken house and barnyard.
Wind energy is very much part of our past, present and future energy generation. The Traditional American Water Pumping Windmill is legendary for dependably serving the needs of rural families and communities with only minimal maintenance. Windmills allowed farmers and ranchers to live and raise livestock on land where there were no rivers, streams, or lakes. These amazing machines also helped to fuel railroads by providing access to underground water supplies needed to power steam locomotives.
Displays at the Museum's windmill will invite visitors to consider how wind has historically been harnessed and used, and, in modern times, the environmental and economic impacts of wind turbines used to generate electricity.
Harnessing the power of Water to turn a wheel may be one of humanity’s oldest mechanical energy sources. The first reference to a water wheel dates to approximately 4000 BCE.
In the US, water wheels have historically been used in gristmills to turn large grinding stones that grind grain into flour and corn into meal. After the harvest, many gristmills operated as sawmills. Water wheels powered large saws used to cut logs into boards for houses, barns, and other outbuildings.
Displays at the Museum's gristmill draw connections between early uses of hydropower and high-tech dams engineered to generate electricity, providing power to rural and urban communities.
While solar panels and photovoltaic cells are relatively new inventions, energy from the Sun has been used for millennia to start fires, heat water, and dry food to preserve it. While electricity generated by solar “farms” is used to power the grid, real farmers have also been adopting solar power to generate electricity to power equipment and buildings.
From Native Americans and settlers burning buffalo chips (dung) to heat their homes on the American prairie, to burning of wood and charcoal, there is a long history of burning Organic Matter to generate heat. Modern biomass energy production involves burning agricultural waste or woody materials to heat water and produce steam that spins turbines producing electricity.
