There's no doubting that the cause of renewable energy is a noble one. But, ethics aside, it also gives birth to the occasional technical marvel. Altaeros Energies, a company from Massachusetts (with MIT and Harvard blood in its veins) has created one such curiosity. The prototype is a wind-turbine that doesn't just languish on a hill-top, cutting a line in the horizon. No, this one has a helium-filled outer-section which allows it to deploy itself to 1,000 feet, where it can benefit from stronger, more consistent winds and gives nearly twice the power yields of its land bound brethren. That's all very nice, but we just thought it looked dang cool in action.

Helium-filled floating wind turbine, renewable energy with style originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 22 Apr 2012 13:02:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.