Wind turbines, Montezuma Hills, Solano County — April 2009

I was inspired to share this episode of California’s Gold after seeing Rebel Girl’s post Wind Power on the Photogate blog.  I can only imagine what it must feel like to stand at the top of one of these massive machines! It’s hard for me to wrap my head around the scale of the rotors, even after seeing them from this unique perspective. I’ll admit that Huell’s excitement and his misgivings are great fun to watch from the safety of my livingroom sofa.

The historic windmills in Golden Gate Park are something I’ve been wanting to explore for awhile now — I haven’t made it there yet, and maybe that’s not surprising, since there’s so many fascinating things to see in the park, not to mention the rest of San Francisco!

The first stop on our adventure is the Dutch Windmill in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park, which was built in 1902, at a cost of $16,000. It is 75 feet high, and 33 feet in diameter at the base, its sails have a span of 102 feet, and it was capable of pumping 30,000 gallons of fresh water per hour from underground to a reservoir on Strawberry Hill…

…From the historic to the cutting edge of technology, Huell’s next stop is sure to make you gasp. We travel to Enron Wind in Tehachapi to look at the biggest and most modern windmill we could find. Join Huell as he climbs two hundred and thirteen feet straight up to the top of this amazing machine… If you’re afraid of heights, this show is sure to make you squirm.

(Click on the linked image below to see the video.)