Canadian researcher Louis Michaud has spent the last 40 years crafting an idea that would give us free energy from those wind vortices that would rather send you flying to Oz than light your home. His schemes calls for a "Vortex Building" to be built that would take heated water, normally destined for a cooling tower, and use it to generate hot air. As the air rises, it would pull more energy from the atmosphere thus creating a self-sustaining tornado that would then rotate turbines to generate electricity.

Even though it sounds like a doomsday weapon designed by a crazy-mad scientist, Michaud thinks his concept can become a reality for a mere $60 million. If anyone buys into this idea, the Vortex Building could generate enough electricity to power 200,000 homes. With all the controversy surrounding wind farms, I'd like to see this design get past the zoning commission. — Stephen Schleicher

Clean Break, via Tree Hugger