Wind turbines come in an increasing variety of shapes and sizes.
The best known are the standing windmills, sometimes several hundred feet high with massive, aircraft style blades. More compact horizontal models are being developed for residential rooftops.
Artists sketch of bumblebee inspired wind turbine from Green Wavelength
Few turbines, however, resemble the latest prototype from Green Wavelength – a model inspired by the flight of the bumblebee. Green Wavelength showed off the design at the Perfect Pitch 2009 conference in Marina Del Rey on Thursday.
The company says its aim to improve upon the 30 percent efficiency of today’s windmills by mimicing the efficiency of a hummingbird, dragonfly or bumblebee. It intends its XBee series wind turbines to be made of carbon fiber and aluminum.
