Harnessing Wind Energy: Historic & Modern
Humans have a very long history of harnessing wind energy. One of the earliest mentions of a windmill was in 644 AD, and we have been using them ever since.
Wind is one of the easiest energy types for communities to diy, making it an essential power source for many places around the world that don't have grid-access.
As technology improves, designs are changing too, but current wind turbines are not without flaws. 1.17 million birds are killed by turbines every year, and while that is far less of a problem in comparison to house cats killing birds (2.5 billion), any amount is too much, so people are working toward solutions. Some are installing sensors that turn off the turbines when birds are approaching, while others are hoping to change the design completely.
The tech might change over time, but it looks like wind power is here to stay.
Here are some of the designs people are looking into:
Designed for medium to high-rise buildings, the PowerNEST provides both solar and wind energy. The solar panels are raised up on a stand, and the wind turbines are under the stand.
Traffic can create a surprising level of wind, and these turbines are designed to try and capture that.
Some (like Alpha 311) are designed to save money by attaching to pre-existing lamp posts, others are stand-alone units that are often accompanied by solar.
Flower Turbines creates "Wind Tulips," which are bird-friendly, space-saving, silent, and efficient additions to homes and landscapes that are designed to be more attractive for people. They have several colors to choose from.
These often weird-looking designs wiggle or bend instead of spin.
Something similar to this concept was proposed about 10+ years ago with a design called "WindStalks" but never seemed to go anywhere. My personal guess is that the appearance needs some adjusting before anyone will want one on their roof or landscape.