Architect In Training

So in my conquests to become LEED certified, I've been researching and reading as much information as I can.  I came across this windmill known as the xBEE on TreeHugger that is using bioMimicry to utilize the wind and create energy from it.  What is the windmill mimic-ing from nature you ask?  BEES?!  Yeah, that insect that is supposedly aerodynamically ill-equipped to fly is being mimiced by a California engineering business known as Green Wavelength.

"Borrowing design cues from nature is already changing the face of technology, especially in the swirly realm of fluid dynamics. We've seen fan blades inspired by the bumpy fins of whales, solar cells made more efficient by the texture of butterfly wings, turbine blades that mimic the hydrophobic surface of leaves, and maybe even high-MPG car coatings that are rough like shark skin." -- TreeHugger

They're still expensive, but it's a step in the right direction.  Check out the prototype in action.  It looks pretty cool, but it also looks awkward [at least to me it does].  Then again, the bee in nature is pretty awkward so in the end, it works perfectly.


Thomas Bowman Out.