Sustainable Building Forum

Here are two new interesting wind-power technologies.  I hope they both catch on.

The Wind-Belt:
The wind-belt can generate small amounts of electricity using an effect known as aeroelastic flutter. The belt is very simple, just a thin taut tape that vibrates in the wind, causing magnetic coils holding the tape on the ends to oscillate, generating electricity. The very low cost and wide availability of materials makes it especially viable in the third-world. It could also be used on the sides of buildings or in air ducts as an alternative to installing more costly rooftop turbines or solar panels.
http://www.ecogeek.org/content/view/1052/

Maglev Turbine:
Another promising technology is the large magnetic wind turbine (maglev), which if built, can generate one gigawatt of power, powering 750,000 homes. Friction is reduced in the turbine by using large magnets…
http://www.treehugger.com/files/2007/07/colossal_magnet.php

 I especially like the Tape type wind generator as it would be independent of wind direction. However i expect that the delivered power would be small but the again if it was enough power to power some LED lights to read bu it would be worth it.