Windmills

Has anyone looked in to the practicality of small windmills?

CC

Yes I have.
I've come to the conclusion (seen it in person) that the cheapest and most efficient windmill is cutting a 55 gallon barrel length wise in half and making a wind cup like you see used to measure wind speed is the best all round formula.
A small five mile wind produces enough torq to turn the most stubborn generaters.
If you know of anyone with a big servo's on the cheap you can make yourself a nice low voltage dc generator next to nothing.

To state the obvious, you must live in a windy area to take advantage of a windmill. You didn't mention the purpose for having a windmill, but I assume it is for power generation. Unless you combine it with another source of generation (solar, grid), It would be an unreliable source of energy.

I did a lot of research into windmills, as i used to live in a windy place. I came to the conclusion that I preferred not to live in such a windy place, as it made life somewhat miserable being exposed to wind all the time.

Iowa beleive it or not is windy and muggy and wind mills are going up everywhere in the country side.
farmers are putting up small/medium class mills for hog rendering operations.
One farmer says his electrical bill is brought to a zero after the power company buys back what he doesnt use.
Not bad for a hog operation.