Chuck Hausladen has been interested in harnessing the wind’s energy for more than three decades.

However, it is only recently that he has had the time to focus his interests and turn his ideas into reality. He erected his first wind turbine one year ago, and a second one scheduled to be in place near the first one later this summer.

“We’re trying to get out from under the energy crunch,” said Hausladen, who lives in the northwest corner of McLeod County. “Energy is going to be a big deal.”

With national gas prices averaging around $4 a gallon and environmentalists concerned about the negative effects of nuclear and other types of power, finding clean, renewable and inexpensive energy is receiving more interest.

Hausladen believes that he had a bit of an advantage over the average person interested in wind energy since he works with tools and machines in a shop near his home by profession. Because of this, he was able to build his own turbines, cutting costs from about $60,000 per turbine to around $35,000. There was, however, a large amount of time spent working on the turbines, about 2,000 hours each, to counteract the money he saved by building them himself.

But Hausladen thinks that the benefits of his turbines are well worth the time and money he’s invested in them.

The full story can be found in July 31 Independent Review.