There’s an interesting video on YouTube about a new(ish) style of wind turbine called an AeroTurbine. It was developed by Bill Becker from the University of Illinois and has some tremendous advantages over traditional wind power generation.

In particular, his turbine doesn’t require a constant wind source; It works just fine with gusts of wind, as are common in urban settings. Also, this type of turbine cannot be spun too fast, whereas horizontal-axis turbines need to be shut down in high winds. AeroTurbines apparently run much quieter than H-axis wind turbines (though I’ve personally stood right beside a wind turbine and couldn’t hear a thing).

They are hoping to promote AeroTecture amongst architects to better capture wind with these devices in newly constructed buildings.

Unfortunately, no projected cost information is available at this time.