MONTVERDE, Fla. -- Windmills are common in nearly all 50 states, except Florida. However, one Central Florida man, Jim Dotson, is determined to prove that the power of the wind is the way to power homes.

It may be catching on and one Lake County city is taking notice.

"It’s really pretty cool. People are just blown away by it," Dotson said.

Dotson has always been a man with big ideas.

"Worked for Walt Disney Imagineering for 12 years. So, they kind of teach you to be more of a risk-taker than normal," he said.

So folks who know him best were not surprised when Dotson put a 35-foot windmill in his backyard, a windmill that helps power his Lake County home.

"We actually ran the meter backwards. So, we were producing more electricity than what the house was using," he said.

Not everybody believes in what Dotson is doing. Critics say, except for along the coast, there's not enough wind in Central Florida to make it work. But one local town is betting there is.

"If a private citizen can do it, there’s no reason why we don't really take a serious look at it," Montverde Mayor Troy Bennett said.

Bennett says a windmill is just what the town needs to cut its own power bill. They own a piece of land that is 183 feet above sea level, where it's almost always windy.

"That's what makes this perfect. So, as perfect as nature can be, it's here and that's why we think we can take total advantage of that,” city council member Jim Pierce said.

Progress Energy set up a system in Dotson’s garage to monitor how much electricity the windmill produces, power the company buys back from him. He says it shaved $130 off his last bill, gaining ground on the $12,000 he paid for the windmill. A bank told Eyewitness News they crunched the numbers and said it would pay for itself in four and a half years.

In the next few months, Montverde City Council plans to apply for federal stimulus money to purchase a windmill.