There haven't been any jokes about windy Jim Ireton, but someone's bound to make one soon. Mr. Ireton is the chatty general manager and co-owner of Rideau Home Hardware Building Centre in Smiths Falls, where a new Skystream 3.7 windmill is shunting electricity to the store faster than you can say kilowatts.

The tri-blade unit kicked into operation on Earth Day, April 22. Mounted on a single pole buried in a block of concrete, it stretches a modest 33 feet into the air and turns automatically to catch the wind. "It's a great revolving billboard," laughs Mr. Ireton. You'll soon be able to monitor its performance on the store's website (www.rideaulumber.com).

The windmill begins producing power when the wind hits 8 miles an hour. At 20 m.p.h., it generates 1.8 kW, while peak production is 2.4 kW. Homeowners in a good wind area can shave 25 to 30 per cent off their electricity bill with a similar windmill, he estimates.

Font:****This is one smart piece of machinery. When the wind hits 35 m.p.h., the machine's on-board computer slams on the brakes so the blades don't exceed their safe turning speed. The windmill then tests the situation by restarting automatically and stopping again if it's still too blustery. Eventually, it shuts down entirely, awaiting a manual flip of the switch to restart.

The Skystream 3.7 costs about $15,000 installed (the store will arrange the installation). That's a chunk of change, but "we're saying for now that it has a payback period of 12 to 15 years," says Mr. Ireton. And that's at today's unrealistically low electricity rates. The Ontario government, ever-proactive on the green front, rebates the provincial sales tax on your windmill. Not to be outdone, the federal government offers nothing.

Mr. Ireton has signed on to a grid-tied net metering arrangement with Hydro One. That means that if his windmill generates more power than the store is using, the excess is fed into the grid and Hydro gives him a credit. When the store needs more power than the unit is generating, it draws on the grid. Mr. Ireton will have a clearer idea of how the give-and-take is working after a year.

Battery systems are also available to store excess energy. They'll power an average house for a couple of days and cost about $10,000.