Generating energy can be a breeze, Kruse says

0 Comments | USA TODAY, July, 2007 | by Paul Davidson

Andy Kruse closes his eyes and sees windmills in backyards across America.

Well, not every backyard. Hard to imagine wind turbines on the cheek-by-jowl lots of many U.S. suburbs.

But Kruse and his partner, David Calley, who co-founded Southwest Windpower 21 years ago, are determined to bring their Skystream 3.7 to semi-suburban and rural neighborhoods and millions more homes than can now accommodate windmills.

Kruse says he wants to turn the wind turbine into a "residential power appliance" on a par with solar panels -- as essential as a dishwasher in an environmentally conscious age.

"It's taking renewable energy and bringing it to the mainstream of America," says Kruse, an easygoing, always-smiling 44-year-old college dropout. Peter...