Bringing wind power down to size - the Windbelt

Shawn Frayne, creator of the Windbelt and one of the finalists for the Curry Stone Prize for humanitarian design, which was recently awarded at the IdeaFestival, is featured in BusinessWeek. From the article:

Frayne's device joins a growing array of simple, inexpensive technologies created for developing countries that have also garnered considerable attention in the U.S. and Europe. "Innovations arising from problems in developing economies should meet the challenges of developed economies, too," says Frayne emphatically. With that in mind, Humdinger is taking "a market-oriented approach," he says. That means pitching Windbelt technology as a green way to power air-quality sensors or WiFi transmitters in new buildings in the developed world, for instance. "People are realizing that smartly designed micro-installations can have a big impact," says James Brew, a principal architect with the Rocky Mountain Institute, a green think tank in Aspen, Colo. The Windbelt's small size and negligible cost, adds Brew, make it potentially applicable in developed settings—such as new skyscrapers—as well as the more rugged conditions of the world's rural villages.

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