If you’re planning on hitting a movie this Memorial Day weekend and you happen to live in Gibson City, Illinois, you could visit a theater with a very green screen; The Harvest Moon Twin Drive-In Theater recently became the first movie theater in the world to be powered by wind turbines.

As an industry with a heavy environmental impact, the movie and film business has been ripe for an eco-makeover for quite awhile and we’re now starting to see progress in the form of greener sets and movies with a message. The Harvest Moon Twin Drive-In Theater, however, sets a new standard for powering actual movie watching in a better way, leading the way for theaters in states like California that are normally the first for environmental advances. Two turbines (one at 30 feet and the other at 50 feet) fire projectors, lights and popcorn machines at the Harvest Moon by generating most of their wind during the windiest months of the year (also the months that the theater is closed) and receiving the equivalent energy as a sort of “rebate” from the local power company, who stores the wind power, as needed. The eco-minded switch is even more impressive given the fact that drive-in theaters are a dying breed as more Americans chose to view their movies in mega-sized stadiums with access to a range of fast food restaurants.

The installation of the wind turbines was motivated by both the environmental benefits and the financial perks, with owner Mike Harroun estimating that this first year he’ll save about 30% on energy costs for the theater and hoping to increase that figure to 100% by 2010. Harroun is so optimistic about the viability of wind energy for both businesses and home that he’s not only switching to wind-power for his businesses, he’s created another business called Angel Wind Energy Inc. in Onarga, Illinois, installing wind turbines like the ones he uses.

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